Second Chances
by Echoes In The Stars
Summary: Hiccup Haddock had everything planned for his life in high school. He had been working up to the one thing he had been most passionate about–that was until the accident that happened during his freshman year. Since then, he wasn't the same, but with the help of two odd best friends and a certain girl, will he be able to finally give himself a second chance at what he did best?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Hiccup Haddock used to be anything but rude or bitter when he was growing up. He used to be one of the kindest and most genuine people someone could meet. Even when someone would make fun of him, he used to be the type of person to just put it behind him and be a forgiving person. He used to be someone who wouldn't show how he felt or even care if people pushed him around and made fun of him. He used to be that type of person.

Key phrase: used to be.

Hiccup _used to be_ that type of person. But now as he sat on the bleachers, overlooking the track and the students, he scowled at both. He watched as the cross-country team warmed up before they began to take a few laps around the track. Hiccup sighed and looked down at his phone, checking the time before looking back up. He saw someone–a freshman to be exact–looking at him with a weird look, and he sent them a menacing glare causing them to yelp and turn away.

He didn't mean to be the way he was, it was just simply how he was now. If he was being honest with himself, he loathed the way he turned out to be the last few years. Whether he admitted it to himself or not, the old Hiccup seemed better in his mind. He'd rather be able to blame it all on the accident that happened two years prior to his Junior year in high school, but part of him blamed himself for his attitude.

But again, he'd rather stick to blaming the accident.

The green-eyed boy checked his phone again and breathed a sigh of relief as he got up and walked down the bleachers, away from the track and students. He slung his black Jansport backpack over one shoulder as he made his way down the concrete path towards the parking lot, but not before stopping by the gym. He peered inside the massive building and saw that the volleyball team was practicing. His eyes scanned the room before they landed on one certain player. Her golden hair was pulled back into a perfect ponytail, her hands resting on her knees as she was bent over, waiting for the next serve.

He had heard a lot about Astrid Hofferson in the hallways at school and in his classes–it seemed as if that's all anyone could talk about, which was her. According to sources and loud mouths, she was the captain of the varsity volleyball team, and the star player of the varsity basketball team. She had transferred to Berk High School during sophomore year and just on her first day got in with the popular crowd. If being popular were a sport, she'd be the captain by now because by school social standards, no one was above Astrid Hofferson. _No one_.

Hiccup didn't exactly like Astrid, but somehow when he saw her, he couldn't take his eyes off her. He probably thought it was because he admired her beauty, because she was stunning, then again, her personality made her less attractive. He'd seen the way she was with people, one minute she was nice and sweet, then the next she'd be pinning someone to a locker and threatening them. Though, she had never done anything to him, then again, they never associated with each other. Although, no one exactly associated with Hiccup not so much because they thought of him, but because he had an attitude not to be reckoned with.

Some people had joked about having the two date each other because of their attitudes and short tempers, but that was all it was: a joke. He would chuckle at the thought of that ever happening, but it made him uneasy about that ever becoming a possibility. Then again, the chances of him dating Astrid Hofferson were unlikely times infinite.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard something collide sharply against the wall next to him. Hiccup flinched a bit and widened his eyes before his eyes found their way to the floor where the blue and white volleyball was. He picked it up and glared at the players in front of him before he threw the ball up and served it with his palm open, causing it to fly across the room, only to hit one of them on the head.

And it was none other than Astrid Hofferson.

"What the hell?" she snapped angrily, holding the top of her head as she glared at him in the most menacing way possible.

While most students would run, Hiccup only smirked. "Whoops."

Astrid frowned at him before placing her hands on her hips. "Aren't you going to apologize?"

Hiccup shook his head, still smirking. "I'm going to go get my dog instead," he said and pointed to her head. "But you should go put some ice on that." Before Astrid could respond, he saluted her and turned around and walked out of the gym.

Along with having an attitude, he had also developed a douchebag side to him. As much as it was fun to talk back to others, he did hate the way he was, but he couldn't find a good reason to really... _stop_ all of it. It was just the way he presented himself now.

Hiccup shook his head from his thoughts and made his way to his black Camaro and got in. He threw his backpack in the passenger seat next to him and put on his seatbelt before looking down at his foot.

Foot.

Not feet.

 _Foot_.

He sighed as he rested his forehead against the wheel, his eyes glued to the prosthetic that replaced his left foot. As much as he never admitted it or showed it, losing his foot had been the worst thing that ever happened to him. In other words, it ruined his life and most importantly, himself. He lifted his head from the wheel and looked out towards the track again, watching students run around it, and he felt his legs begin to ache. Everything he had been working so hard for all stopped because of his foot. Because he _lost_ his foot. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

* * *

Hiccup pulled into the parking lot in front of the animal clinic and stepped out. He made his way up the small steps and walked through the double doors, making his way to the front desk. He chatted with the woman seated behind and she pointed behind her to a hallway. He thanked her before walking into the hallway and towards the room where his best friend was.

"Hiccup!"

He turned around at the sound of the familiar voice and smiled when he saw who it was. "Hey Heather!"

Heather smiled and gave him a quick hug. "Looking for Toothless?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, do you know where he is?"

"Yeah, he's just down here," she said and lead him down the hallway to a room in the middle. Right when she opened the door, a giant, furry dog ran past her and pounced on Hiccup, pressing his two front legs onto his chest, and balancing on his single back leg.

"Toothless!" the green-eyed boy laughed and hugged the dog. "How's my best friend feeling?"

Toothless licked his face and wagged his tail, as if saying he was feeling fine. Hiccup smiled and turned to Heather. "How'd it go?"

"Well," she began and squatted down to pet the mix-breed. "We just managed to get it out of his stomach on Sunday and he's been healing pretty quickly for the past few days."

Hiccup smiled and looked at the dog's brown eyes. "That's good. I'm still trying to comprehend that he swallowed a chew toy."

Heather chuckled. "He _is_ a wolf hybrid."

"Along with a border collie and blue heeler mixed into his gene pool," he added, making them laugh.

From afar, Toothless looked like a regular border collie, but upon further examination, his mixed traits were visible. He sported a thicker coat of hair than a border collie or blue heeler would have, big pointed ears, a long snout, and sharp teeth. Along with that, came his sheer size and build like that from his wolf side. Feature wise, he was a simple black and white border collie, but being a blue heeler mix as well, and besides the gene making his ears more upright and pointy, the right side of his face was all white, dotted with black spots, mostly around his eye. His left side was just a plain black as were his other patches, but the front of his body was also covered with black spots as well. All in all, Toothless was probably the most gorgeous dog one could lay their eyes on, and his bright brown eyes just added on to it. The only problem that someone could really notice was his missing left back leg.

Hiccup had rescued Toothless from an animal shelter during the summer before his freshman year. At the time, Toothless was somewhat untrainable and constantly trying to bite people, but everyone in the shelter thought it was because of his wolf side. But it was all from their judgment about wolves and their nature that they decided to put him down the following week–and that's where Hiccup came in. He had walked into the shelter with his father in hopes of looking for a dog who could be his best friend–the first _real_ best friend he'd ever have. When he first walked in, the first thing he saw was a giant dog running around the shelter, skidding around the tiles on only three legs. The dog had looked at him and Hiccup instantly felt drawn to the dog, right then and there. It had leapt onto him and licked his face, making him laugh and hug the dog, but that all ended when he felt him being pulled away.

"Wait, where are you taking him?"

"Sorry kid, this guy has different plans."

"What do you mean _different plans_?"

"Well, can't you see? He's part wolf and wolves aren't trainable."

It only took Hiccup a moment to realize what he had meant. "Y-You're putting him down? Because he's a wolf?!"

"That's not–"

"That's _exactly_ what you meant! So you're saying that if I had some Adolf Hitler blood or genetics in me, you would put me down? Because you assume that I'm going kill people and be savage. And because of your stupid belief that wolf hybrids are automatically not trainable and the same, you're going to put them down for the same thing?" When the man didn't answer, he continued. "That's bullshit."

"Hiccup," his father, Stoick, had said sternly.

"What? It's true! And you know what, you can't put him down either way."

"Why not? We already made the arrangement."

Hiccup took one good look at the dog and smiled. "Because I want to _adopt_ him. And if you want a good review and happy customers, you won't deny my request."

It had taken a good half hour to get everything set, and it seemed like a relief to the shelter's employees to finally, in a sense, get rid of Toothless. In their minds, it seemed harsh, but the dog had caused such a ruckus, he became unbearable to them. But there went Toothless with his new friend and family, and shockingly, he never bit Hiccup.

"See? He's toothless, at least when it comes to me," he joked before he frowned and smiled. "You know what? That's what I'll call you: Toothless."

Two years later, the two were closer than ever, not being able to bear the thought of ever separating. That along with Hiccup's other pet, Sharpshot.

Heather explained that Toothless needed to be more careful around the house and to not consume anything other than dog food–not that he wouldn't either way. Hiccup nodded and thanked her as he hugged her and left the clinic. He turned to Toothless who was following closely behind him with his red leash bundled up in his mouth, causing Hiccup to chuckle. He opened the car and Toothless hopped in and made his way to the back seat of the car and laid down as Hiccup stepped into the driver's seat. He looked at the mix-breed in his rearview mirror and smiled.

"Ready to go home, bud?" he asked with a raised brow and Toothless barked, wagging his tail. "Alright, let's go home."

* * *

Hiccup unlocked the door to his apartment loft and set his keys down on his coffee table before plopping down onto his normal couch.

The thing most people didn't know about Hiccup was the fact that he actually lived in his own place and not with his father. After his mother left when he was just a baby, it had just been him and his father, Stoick who was the CEO of Berk's Industry. Because of his father's high position in the industry, he constantly had formal parties or gatherings with the board with other managers and employees. After a while, Hiccup had grown tired of having to put up with the loud guests and having to lock himself in his room to avoid any confrontation with any of them. When he first approached Stoick with the idea of having his own place, he refused it, still being his father and not wanting him to leave so soon. But after some weeks of convincing, the man finally gave in and spent his free time trying to find a good place for his son to stay until he found an apartment loft right by the forest with a great view of the mountains–which was quite expensive–and he even helped Hiccup arrange and design the place.

Now it looked like the place a CEO's son would live in. The first thing that came into view when stepping into the apartment was a short hallway, the walls painted black with some closets along the way. After, the hallway opened up into a wide space, which was the living room, covered with marble floors. To the right was a black wooden stage with steps with one medium-sized table, and black wooden stairs with railings, going up into the loft and also Hiccup's bedroom. To the left was a huge open space with a hung up basketball hoop with a basketball rack filled with basketballs. Straight ahead, was the main living room with a big plasma screen television hung up on the wall with black cabinets around it. In front of the television was a giant movie pit–it was made out of polished wood that created an angled shape with a gray sofa and colored pillows in the center of it. Behind the movie pit to its right side were other large couches made for lounging and the big kitchen to its left with lights above it.

The ceiling above the living room was just the loft above it. Above everything below was the loft and Hiccup's bedroom. When reaching the top of the stairs, the first thing one would see was a big king-sized bed, placed in the center of the room in front of the big window that stretched across the room. It had a charming view of the forest and even the sunset. A little over to the wall was a big desk with pencils and pens and papers scattered all over it; above it was a big bulletin board with multiple drawings pinned to it and other designs, and a trash bin was set off to the side, next to the work space. To the right was a door that lead into the giant bathroom. Unlike most showers, it was big in comparison and Hiccup's shower head was actually a shower ceiling with sliding glass doors. Unlike the loft that was white instead of black like downstairs, his entire bathroom was a polished dark brown wood color with black marble tiled floors. To the left was a big mirror as well and all in all, it was probably the fanciest bathroom one could have.

To the left was Hiccup's walk-in closet that was closed with double wooden and glass doors. Upon walking in there was a simple smooth white carpet and a big mirror to the right. To the left were shelves accompanied with lights under them for his shoes. Straight ahead were multiple shelves and hangers with clothes on them. It was pretty much what a rich boy would have by the recommendation of his CEO father. No one would really believe that Hiccup lived alone or that he even _owned_ this type of place, considering that he was usually isolated and preferred to be alone at school.

But Hiccup's favorite place was right outside of his apartment loft on his balcony-like space. In the center was a big sofa pit in a square shape, surrounding a fire place in the center. The sofas were a soft cream color with different colored and patterned pillows, blankets hanging around every one. The view was Hiccup's favorite though–there was a forest stretching on for miles and there were mountains in the distance. Looking carefully, he could make out a large lake in the center of the forest and there was a view of the sunset ahead. It was his favorite past time when he was stressed or needed a well-deserved break from everything, including school and work.

Hiccup worked as a mechanic with his father's friend, Gobber. They mostly fixed cars and anything in that category, but sometimes Hiccup would go off and try to invent something that came into mind. He was currently applying to multiple colleges and universities with great engineering programs, but it wasn't the same when he was applying and looking for something different before the accident.

He felt Toothless jump up and curl up next to him and then he felt something moving on his head. His green eyes widened for a brief second before he relaxed when he heard the little squeaks come from his hair.

"Hey Sharpshot," Hiccup said with an amused smile and the said pet came crawling down onto his shoulder, revealing a black and white rat. He rubbed the rat's head softly and let him curl up onto his shoulder.

Unlike Toothless, Sharpshot wasn't arranged to be put down, though he did come from the same shelter as Toothless did. He had only been three months old when Hiccup adopted him, and he found out that Sharpshot had been left in a tank by himself when he was just a few weeks since he had been the runt of the litter. It was only when a new family moved in that they discovered him, weak and alone without the proper care. The shelter had nursed him back to health and now he was turning one in two months.

After relaxing on the couch for a few minutes, Hiccup stood–Sharpshot still curled up on his shoulder–and made his way towards the kitchen. He pulled out a knife from the drawer and began to slice an apple until he accidentally nicked his index finger, causing blood to slowly make its way out. He hissed and put his finger in his mouth before turning to look at the rat on his shoulder.

"Hey Sharpshot, can you go get me a bandaid?" he asked, holding up his finger to show the rat.

Sharpshot stood on his hind legs to look at Hiccup's finger before he hopped off his shoulder and onto the counter. He climbed up the little ladder that Hiccup had made for him and crawled into the little tubes used for rodent cages. Hiccup had rearranged them so that they went around the whole apartment, up to the loft in all sorts of directions. The little rodent made his way through the tubes before climbing out of one of the holes of a tube and ran over towards the little first aid kit that was customized for him to access. Hiccup had basically miniaturized everything for Sharpshot when he began teaching him tricks, and it made easy access for the rat himself. He pushed down on the little pin causing the little box to open before he stuck his head in and grabbed a small bandaid. He left the box open, knowing he needed to get back to his owner quickly to cease the bleeding, and that Hiccup would close it later like he usually did. He zoomed through the tubes and then down the ladder before finally making it back to Hiccup and he stood up on his hind legs again with the bandaid in his mouth.

Hiccup made a single click noise with his tongue and handed the rat a little treat, smiling at him. "Thanks Sharpshot."

The rodent nibbled on his treat and Hiccup couldn't help but grin at how cute the little guy was. He loved the rat to death along with Toothless, who could also do the same tricks as Sharpshot could. He put on the bandaid and rubbed Sharpshot's head before he felt two little hands grab his bandaged finger. He looked down and saw the rat holding his finger and give it a small lick before letting it go.

Hiccup chuckled. "I'm okay now, thanks to you. Now c'mon, let's go play with Toothless." At that, Sharpshot leapt from the counter and onto Hiccup's shoulder in seconds, causing the teenager to laugh as he walked back over to the living room.

Toothless lifted his head from his spot on the couch before going back to sleep with a low grumble. Hiccup rolled his eyes before he walked up the stairs and to the loft where his bedroom was. He walked over to his bed and placed his arm down on the white and light beige duvet so that Sharpshot could climb down. He watched as the rat bounded across the bed and over to the small desk where his little plastic blue igloo sat with bedding and some small pillows and blankets. Hiccup knew he pampered Sharpshot and Toothless too much, but he couldn't help the love he had for him. And besides, the little-sized items for the rodent were extremely cute, and he seemed to enjoy it. He watched him enter his plastic igloo and cozy up underneath the blankets and pillows. Hiccup smiled and he made his way over to his closet where he changed into some red pajama pants and a plain black shirt. He sighed and flopped down onto his bed before he whistled loudly and seconds later, he heard the sound of nails scrapping against the wooden stairs. Toothless trotted over to the bed and hopped up next to Hiccup and curled into his side, resting his head on his best friend's chest. Hiccup smoothed his hand over Toothless's head and felt himself dozing off.

Soon, all three of them had fallen asleep.

* * *

A/N: So there's the first chapter to my first AU story. I've had this story in mind for a while, and I know where I want to go with it, it's just the matter of actually getting there. I know it might seem strange to choose a dog like a border collie, blue heeler, wolf mix, but I wanted to change it up a bit from a black dog, even though black is Toothless's signature look. I actually based the dog from a photo I saw and I automatically wanted that dog to portray Toothless because it seemed like it would fit. As for Sharpshot, I just wanted to see how adding a rat would feel to this type of universe. I know some of the things that Sharpshot did like the bandaid thing seemed unrealistic, but it is actually possible for a rat to learn how to do tricks like that, since they are intelligent. Did anyone catch any hints about Hiccup's life before the accident? There were plenty in the first parts. (;

I'll hopefully be updating ROTML soon, so keep an eye out for that. In the mean time, reviews and feedback are always helpful!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Hiccup pulled into Berk High School's parking lot early the next morning. He turned off his car and stepped out, making sure to lock the doors, and made his way up towards the school. He entered through the double doors and walked to his locker, opening it and reaching in to grab his second period binder since it was a Thursday block day. Unlike most schools in the area, Berk had block schedules on Wednesdays and Thursdays–all odd classes were on Wednesdays, while all even classes were on Thursdays. While most students got out later on Wednesdays because of their seventh period, Hiccup got out at a Thursday block day time since he only had six classes.

He shut his locker and made his way to the stairs to the second floor and weaved through the hallways until he reached the door to his film making class. When he entered he saw that most students had begun to file in already, some looking at him with a weird look, causing him to roll his eyes in a way to make them flinch and turn away. He noticed that were a lot of new students since this was the time during the school year where students could transfer into different classes. He walked to his place towards the middle of the room and sat down in the office chair in front of his assigned Mac computer and set his backpack down. Hiccup ran a hand over his tired face and took out his phone to check the time–it was seven fifty-nine.

The moment the bell rung, Astrid Hofferson came trotting into the room and apologized to the teacher, Mr. Phillips, for coming in at the last second. Hiccup frowned knowing she wasn't in this class, but his eyebrows shot up as his green eyes widened when the teacher gestured to the empty seat next to him. He groaned and rested his face on his crossed arms on the table as she came over to sit next to him. It only took her a moment to recognize the boy sitting next to her from yesterday.

"Aren't you the guy who hit me with the volleyball yesterday?"

Hiccup slowly rose his head up and raised his hand slightly. "That would be me."

Astrid glared at him and crossed her arms. "You haven't even apologized to me."

"Oh, well that's unfortunate," he answered bluntly. "Not my problem, princess."

The sapphire-eyed blonde looked taken aback. " _Princess_?"

"Okay, okay," Hiccup said with raised hands. "Milady, is that better?"

She shook her head, ignoring the name. "What do you mean it's not _your_ problem? Of course it is, you _hit_ me with a volleyball!"

He shrugged. "In my defense, I didn't see you."

"Didn't...didn't _see me_?" she growled. "Everyone _sees_ _me_."

"Huh, I didn't. So technically speaking, you're wrong," he said, still in his calm voice. Astrid was about to argue back when the teacher called for the class's attention and she sent him one more glare before turning in her chair to face the man. Mr. Phillips explained to the newer students–which was half of the class–about what the film making class was about. He explained the basics of making films and the software they'd be using on the Macs before telling them to find someone around them to teach them how to use the software and computers.

Astrid looked around, but saw that everyone had paired up and she was about to work on her own when Mr. Phillips spoke up. "Hiccup, can you be Astrid's partner and teach her how to use the software?"

Hiccup sighed and nodded. "Sure."

"Okay, thank you," he said and turned to Astrid with a smile. "Don't worry, you're lucky to be sitting next to him. He's my star student in this class so you'll be learning a lot this year with him."

Astrid shot him a smile and nodded. "Thank you." Mr. Phillips nodded his head back before he turned and walked away. She rolled her eyes as she spun the chair to face the computer and looked at Hiccup. He was doing something on his phone before he put it away and looked up at her. "What?"

"Aren't you going to help me?" she asked with a hint of annoyance.

He shrugged. "I guess so, now scoot over."

She looked at him with a raised brow. "Excuse me?"

For the first time that day, she heard him chuckle as he shook his head. "Well, I need to reach over to grab the mouse and show you the software, now don't I?"

"Oh, yeah," she said awkwardly and scooted away from him a bit so that he could reach over and wrap his hand around the white mouse. She watched him click around the screen before a software called _BerkianFilm_ came up onto the screen.

"Okay," he began and clicked on random items. "So, BerkianFilm is pretty easy to understand and use, but if you're new to the software, it can get confusing." He clicked around and opened up a new project and began to point out things on the screen, starting with the main space at the top. "So those dotted squares that you see right there are basically where you're placing your films or photos. Call them sections if you want, but they don't stay that same size depending on the video that you place there." He pointed to the rectangular box at the bottom. "This is where you import all of your videos or photos. When you choose them, they're going to go down here," he gestured to the big space below the screen. "To put them in the space above, you just click down on what part of the video you want to start at and drag the mouse over to where you want it to end. From there you just simply click on it and drag it up, make sense so far?"

Astrid nodded and leaned forward to get a better look before Hiccup continued. "Okay, see that big black screen to the top right?" She nodded. "That's where you'll be able to see the movie you've created so far."

"So it basically plays it there?" she asked.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, if you want to see what you have so far all you do is press the play button below the screen. If you click on the box right there, you can adjust the sound and even tune out the sounds you don't want, but that can get complicated. That box with the microphone there is where you can record your own voice to do whatever you want, mostly narrating, but other stuff if you're feeling creative. Over here, you can choose music and any other type of sound affects and the box right there," he pointed to a little "T" box. "You can use to add some text to your video."

"Well, that seems easy," she said.

"I told you, but when it comes to actually making your video it can get pretty tricky when you want to make certain effects."

"Like what?" she asked, looking at him as he looked at the screen.

"Well," he began. "Say you want to add something to your video that isn't there. There's a way to add something there, but it mostly requires artist skills and a steady hand."

She glared at him again. "Are you saying I'm not artist or that I don't have a steady hand?"

He turned to look at her with his forest-colored eyes. "Well are you an artist? Do you have a steady hand?"

Astrid didn't respond and only grumbled in response. "Whatever."

Hiccup chuckled and turned back to the computer and clicked on a different part of the software. "Anyways, back to what I was saying. This whole page is meant for animation, that's why it's better to be an artist to use this since you want to make things look well-drawn or realistic. If not, just go to the simple sketch pad under the movie screen. But usually with this part of the software, it can be time consuming, depending on who you are and what you're making."

"Have you made anything?"

"I've been taking this class since I was a freshman," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "I've made plenty of things."

"Then let me see them," she said and crossed her arms over her chest.

Hiccup rolled his eyes playfully this time and went back to his computer and pulled up the software. He clicked onto the same screen Astrid was on and went to his finished projects that read " _158 Completed_ ". She leaned forward and widened her eyes at his designs, some ranging from basic objects to things beyond her imagination. As much as the guy irritated her, she had to admit that he had a talent.

"Those are really good," she admitted quietly.

He smiled. "Why thank you, Milady."

"Don't call me that," she snapped, but she was surprised when he didn't even flinch.

"Whatever you say," he said and spent the next hour doing a test run with the software with her. When they were done, he stretched and gave her a small smile. "Well, now you know the basics. My work here is done for today. Hope you learned something, Milady."

Before Astrid could say anything, the bell rung signaling that it was time for brunch. Hiccup logged out of his account and stood up, saluting Astrid, and walked out of the room. Astrid watched him leave and clenched her fists when she saw students part a pathway for him till he was out the door. Was this guy secretly popular or something? No, he was not going to be above her because she was Astrid Hofferson, she was the best of the best. She stood up and walked towards the door, smiling when students parted a path for her as well and she walked into the hallway.

She was halfway to her locker when she remembered something–she never knew that guy's name. She had heard the teacher say it, but she wasn't really paying attention to his name or anything, all she knew was that it started with an 'H'. She sighed and made her way to her locker where her boyfriend Scott Jorgenson was waiting.

Scott was the star quarterback of the football team and the most popular guy at Berk High School, making them both the school's most popular couple. Scott wasn't a bad guy though he was quite into himself, but then again, he wasn't the smartest either. The two began dating sophomore year when Astrid transferred to the school and they had taken a liking to each other, but quite frankly, Astrid didn't feel as strongly for him as she did before, but she had a title to maintain still.

The football player wrapped an arm around her and placed a sloppy kiss on her lips before she went and opened her locker. The rest of their group came up to them and greeted them. They consisted of the twins, Rachel and Thomas, and their nerdy friend, Floyd Ingerman, though the three were known by their nicknames Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs.

"Are we going to go out later today?" Ruffnut asked as she leaned against the locker next to Astrid's.

"I don't know about you guys, but I can't," Astrid said, shutting her locker.

"Why not?" Scott asked.

"Because I have to practice for basketball season soon and I have volleyball practice later," she said. "I can't waste my time for anything, no offense."

"None taken," they all said.

* * *

It was now the last period of the day and the group had P.E. as their last class. They were currently walking into the gym where a rack filled with basketballs was placed by the wall across from them. Astrid looked up to the bleachers and noticed Hiccup sitting in the middle, doing his homework from another class and frowned. She had never seen Hiccup in her class before and she wondered why he wasn't doing anything. Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup had always been in the class but he was usually in the teacher's office grading papers for him or helping deliver things to other classes from the main office. It wasn't like he could do much with a prosthetic anyways as much as he wanted to. He was only here today because there was nothing much for him to do and his boss had told him that he might need assistance with the class. Only a few moments later did their teacher, and Hiccup's boss, Gobber walk into the gym with his clipboard in hand and black whistle around his neck.

"Alright, today yer gonna play some basketball," he announced loudly. "Yer going to work on form and then yer gonna play a game or two if yer lucky within the hour. After, yer gonna go outside and run two miles for the last thirty minutes." The whole class groaned at that while Hiccup stopped writing and sighed.

"Ah, quit yer complaining! Now pair up and grab a ball, will'ya?" he said in his strong Scottish accent. The class listened and they paired up before going over to the rack and picking up a basketball. Everyone stood a few feet away in front of their partner while Gobber stood in the middle of the two lines. "Yer going to be tossing back and forth to yer partner and when I blow the whistle yer gonna stop tossing and listen to the next instructions, we clear?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, go!" He blew the whistle and got out of the way of the flying balls as the students tossed them back and forth to each other.

For the next fifteen minutes, the class went through all the basic tosses and techniques before Gobber told them to gather around the basketball hoop to practice shooting and to work on proper form. He turned over to the bleachers to where the green-eyed boy was sitting, looking down at his phone. "Hiccup! Get over here!"

Hiccup looked up before he turned off his phone and shoved it into his backpack and walked down to the gym floor. He walked over to Gobber and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Okay, what now?"

"Now, yer going to teach these kids how to play," Gobber said simply causing Hiccup to shift uncomfortably on his feet. "Um, Gobber? I don't think I can exactly play..." The older man sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I know yer not confident playing, but you already gave up on that other thing and I'm not letting you give up on basketball. I've seen you play at yer apartment, lad, and yer still the best at it. You just need to have faith in yerself, Hiccup."

The boy thought about Gobber's words for a moment before he sighed and finally nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll teach them, but if something happens, please don't step in."

"Hiccup–"

"Please, Gobber."

"Okay, I won't. Now get in there," he said and nudged Hiccup in front of him. Gobber turned to the class and smiled. "For the game, Hiccup will be teaching you proper form and how he chooses to teach you is up to him, and there will be no complaints."

 _Hiccup_ _, so that's his name_...Astrid thought.

"Can he even _play_ , Gobber?" Scott asked and other students nodded before he smirked. "You know, with that whole thing going on with him, I doubt he even _has_ proper form."

Hiccup heard other students snicker at Scott's comment and he rolled his eyes as he shrugged off his jacket, leaving him in his plain gray shirt. He walked over to the rack and picked up a basketball and spun it on his finger. "If you think I can't play, then it'll be easy for you to take the ball from me and score before I can, right?"

Scott scoffed. "Obviously."

"Then come on," Hiccup said and the students moved back as Scott stepped forward. "Bring it on, cousin," Scott said as he got into his stance and Hiccup did the same. "Don't call me that," the green-eyed boy snapped, catching Scott off-guard for a few seconds at his words, as he spun around him and he bounced the ball.

Scott went after him to block him from shooting into the hoop, but Hiccup widened his stance and dipped the ball between his legs a few times before he spun around him again. He leapt up a bit and shot the ball into the hoop without hitting the rim, making it go in smoothly. He caught the ball as it bounced back up and tucked it under his arm and he looked at Scott with an amused look. "Still think I can't play?"

His cousin grunted in annoyance. "Whatever."

Hiccup smiled before he turned to the class. "So, shall we work on form?"

* * *

For the next forty-five minutes, Hiccup taught the class form and they even managed to slip a game in, though Hiccup didn't take part in it. It wasn't as though he didn't want to, but it involved running across the court and he wanted to keep that far away from himself. Gobber blew the whistle and told everyone to go down to the track, not much to Hiccup's liking. He went back up the bleachers and gathered his things, placing them into his backpack, and followed the class out to the track.

He sat down on the first row of the metal bleachers and watched as Gobber set the time and blow the whistle. The students ran off and Hiccup closed his eyes for moment and when he opened them, he saw Gobber leaning on the railing in front of him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Okay, I guess," he answered, but he knew he was lying to not only Gobber, but to himself.

The older man nodded and called out the time when some students asked before turning to Hiccup who was staring at his feet. "I was meaning to ask you something."

"What is it?" Hiccup asked as he looked up.

"My assistant for the volleyball team moved last week to Washington and I was gonna ask if you'd like to be my new assistant." Hiccup looked at the man as if he had grown two heads. "Assist you with the volleyball team? As in _being in the same gym as Astrid Hofferson_ , assist you with the volleyball team? I think not."

Gobber gave him a look. "Do ye hate her or something?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No, I'm just not exactly fond of her and the way she is."

"Elaborate on that," he said and crossed his arms.

He sighed as he spoke. "She's just very two-faced in my opinion. One minute she'll be the sweetest thing ever to you, and then she'll be pinning you against a locker, getting mad because you said the wrong thing. Today was the first time I've ever talked to her, and let me tell you that she has this attitude that I really can't stand. It's worse than mine and that says a lot. Yeah, she's probably the most gorgeous girl on the planet, but the attitude she has makes her less attractive. And–"

"Hiccup, yer ranting now," Gobber interrupted with a smile, causing the boy to blush. "Erm, sorry."

Gobber was about to say something when they heard the said girl stop by them, hands on her hips. "Why isn't he running?" she asked and gestured to Hiccup.

"Because he–" the coach began, but Hiccup cut him off, not wanting her to know anything. "I have really bad asthma."

Astrid frowned at him. "So? Fishlegs has asthma and he's at least trying."

It only took two sentences for her to rile the auburn-haired boy up. "Why the fuck does it matter to you?" he snapped as he stood up and walked over to the railing and knelt down to look at her. "Because it's not fair that you get an easy way out of the class for a stupid reason. Isn't this your first day in this class? Cause you sure haven't made a good first impression."

She frowned even more when Hiccup laughed. "My first day in this class? I've _always_ been in this class, I'm just always in Gobber's office or being a teacher's aid in the main office. And speaking of first impressions, you sure do know how to make a bitch of yourself."

Astrid gasped at his insult and clenched her fists. "First off, don't you dare ever insult me. Second off, how the fuck do you get to do nothing and the rest of us have to work our asses off in this class?"

"What are you, my mother?" Hiccup asked sarcastically. "And is Astrid Hofferson jealous of my luxury? I thought you liked this type of stuff."

"I do, but it's not fair since you seem to be in perfect condition for this stuff." Hiccup stayed silent for a moment before he spoke. "Go back and finish your laps, Milady."

"Don't call me that," she snapped. "I still don't get why you don't get to do anything, it's not like you're a cripple."

"Astrid," Gobber said in a stern voice. "Get back to running."

"But–"

" _Now_ ," he said and she groaned as she ran off, but not before shooting Hiccup a glare.

Hiccup sighed as he stood up and walked back over to the bleachers and sat down. He ran his fingers through his messy auburn locks and put his head in his hands and looked down at his prosthetic. He had stopped Gobber from telling Astrid about his prothetic because as much as he didn't care about what people thought, he hated the look on their faces when they found out about it or looked at him. His first prosthetic was metal-like and looked nothing like a foot. He had asked for a realistic prosthetic after he realized that people would never stop looking at his old one when he walked around school, so after a while, he finally chose the one he had today. It was a modern prosthetic that was metal at the beginning and a plastic foot that was the same size as his normal foot so that he could wear shoes over it. That was why Astrid and other students didn't know about it, since he had it concealed under his jeans and shoes, making him look normal with all limbs intact.

"I'm sorry, lad," Gobber apologized sincerely.

Hiccup shrugged. "It's okay."

"You don't have to sit there, you know," Gobber said and gestured to the track behind him. "You can still get back into it."

"We've been over this, Gobber," he began with a sigh. "Say if I did get back into it, would it get me back those offers? The ones I earned because of my hard work and dedication? It could never happen again."

"You don't know that, Hiccup. You haven't even tried running again–"

"Because there's no point if no college is going to offer a scholarship or even accept a one-legged runner!" Hiccup finally yelled, causing a few students running by them to slow down and give him a sympathetic look, knowing what he meant.

Gobber sighed when he saw the tired and broken look on the boy's face and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry yer feeling this way, Hiccup. But you've still got time to practice and get back into running. You don't have to give up just yet."

"The thing is, Gobber," he began and looked out towards the track. "I've already given up on it since the day I woke up in the hospital."

* * *

A/N: Does the summary of the story and hints from the last chapter make sense now? So, Hiccup used to be a runner, and you'll learn more about it in the next couple chapters. I know Hiccup seems quite OOC, but you'll learn why he became that way later on. As for Astrid, I know I'm making her harsh, but it's all apart of how the story's going to work out. Hiccstrid seems to be having a rough start, but don't worry, I ship them to the moon and back, but it's all about working them out since they both carry attitudes, and we all know what happens when fire meets fire.

Just to clear things up: Hiccup lost his leg during freshman year and changed prosthetics sometime during the beginning of sophomore year, but at the time Astrid hadn't transferred to Berk High School yet, so she knows nothing about Hiccup's disability. And since she never associated or even knew Hiccup existed, she never heard about him. So, finding out will be a huge surprise for her.

Also, thank you for the lovely reviews, follows, and favorites! I got a lot more than I expected, and it was only the first chapter, so thank you again. Reviews and feedback are always appreciated to know how I'm doing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Good job, Astrid!" Gobber called as he watched Astrid spike the ball over the net. The blonde girl nodded and rested her hands on her knees as she bent over, waiting for the next serve. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the green-eyed boy standing by Gobber with his arms crossed. They made eye-contact and Astrid glared at him like she usually did when she saw him.

It had been a week since Hiccup agreed to help Gobber assist with the volleyball team everyday after school. Although he wasn't fond of the idea of seeing Astrid all the time, he saw no harm in at least helping his boss. During the practices, he usually just stood off to the side and threw back the balls if they went outside the court, though sometimes he would give some tips to the team members.

Today would be a lot different.

"Hiccup, get in there," Gobber said out of nowhere, causing everyone, including Hiccup, to stop and look at him. "Wait, what?" Hiccup asked as he looked at Gobber with a strange look. "You want _me_ to get in there and do what, _play_?" Gobber nodded and Hiccup shook his head. "Please don't start with this too."

"Just play a game, lad. It won't do any harm," the man said in a calm voice.

"Fine, but _one_ game, that's it," he said and pointed a finger at Gobber.

Gobber smirked. "Well, in that case," he turned to the team members and raised his voice. "Hiccup will be playing against Astrid's side of the net!"

Hiccup widened his eyes before he closed them and groaned. "Thank you, for making my life easier."

"Not a problem, Hiccup," he said and patted the boy's back and pushed him to the other side of the net. "Now get in there!" Reluctantly, Hiccup walked over to the other side and stood in front of a glaring Astrid.

"You can't even play," she sneered.

"Well, hello to you too, Milady," he said sarcastically.

"What did I say about calling me that?" she snapped, and Hiccup shrugged. "Dunno, I don't really pay attention to what you have to say, so..."

Astrid growled. "You're unbelievable."

"Whatever you say," he answered back with a chuckle before he heard the ball being served.

He watched as another girl from Astrid's side bumped the ball with her forearms and another girl bumping it over the net when it came to her. The girl behind the one next to Hiccup did the same and when it flew over to him, it went too far for him to get it where he was standing. He slid on his good knee and managed to bump it back over the net. Some of the girls on his side of the net cheered for him before getting their heads back in the game. Astrid saw the ball coming to her so she jumped up and spiked it down onto the other side, hitting it against the floor before another girl could touch it. Her side clapped and she smirked over at Hiccup who only shrugged and went back into his stance.

They played for another fifteen minutes when they came to the final game for the day. Astrid's side was next to serve and when the ball flew over the net, Hiccup was the first to bump it back to the other side. Another girl from Astrid's side set it and it went over to the girl in front of her who passed it over to Astrid. The blonde bumped it over the net, only to have Hiccup spike it down at her feet, causing her to fall backwards. The rest of the girls gasped as they looked back and forth between Hiccup and Astrid.

When Astrid rose to her feet, she rounded on Hiccup. "You did that on purpose!"

Hiccup chuckled and shook his head. "No I didn't."

She stomped her foot down and growled at him. "What the fuck is your problem, fishbone?"

At the name, Hiccup walked over to the net and glared down at her through it. "Want to know my problem? My problem is _you_." Astrid faltered a bit and looked at him. "What?" He pointed a finger at her and frowned. " _You're_ my problem, Astrid. And don't bother to ask me why, because I have a huge list of reasons that you don't want to hear."

"You think I can't handle your stupid reasons."

"Oh, but my reasons are anything but stupid."

"You know what? Why don't you go do something that you can actually do. Oh wait, but you can't do anything for that matter–"

"Alright, alright, enough you two," Gobber said as he stepped forward. "Practice is over, now get yer stuff and go home."

"You don't have to ask me twice," Hiccup said as he gave Astrid another look before he stormed away.

When everyone had left and Astrid was the last one remaining, she turned to Gobber and ran a hand through her hair. "What the hell is up with him, Gobber? I've barely known him for like what? A week, and he's already such an asshole to me, and frankly everyone from what I've heard."

"So you've been asking about him?"

Astrid shrugged. "Not really, I would just talk about his shit attitude and people said he's known for it and the way he is."

Gobber sighed as he gathered his things. "He wasn't always like that, ye know."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, that there used to be a different Hiccup who was kind and forgiving." She slowly walked over to him and for a brief second, he saw a look of concern on her face. "What happened?"

He shook his head. "It's not my story to tell or anyone's for that matter. But let's just say that he had every reason to have built a wall around himself." And with that, Gobber left the gym, leaving a stunned Astrid.

* * *

Hiccup drove back to his apartment and stormed up the stairs and through the door. He threw his keys on the table and flopped down onto the couch, putting his head in his hands. Toothless rose his head from his spot on the movie pit before he jumped off and trotted over to his best friend, sensing his different change in mood. He put his paw on Hiccup's knee and made soft _mmh–mmh_ sounds and tilted his head from side to side.

"Not now, Toothless," Hiccup grumbled, but the dog wasn't having any of it. Toothless shoved his head between Hiccup's forearms and starting licking his face, emitting a small laugh from the boy. Hiccup rose his head and smiled at the mix-breed and rubbed his head. "How is it that you manage to cheer me up so easily?" Toothless barked and wagged his tail happily. "C'mon, let's go get something to eat, I'm starving."

Toothless followed Hiccup into the kitchen where he began to cut up some meat and put in Toothless's favorite dog kibble. He shook it around in his big metal bowl with his name etched onto the surface to mix the two items together before he placed it on the ground and went to go fill his water bowl. Toothless sat patiently and right when Hiccup put down his water bowl, he chowed down on his food. Hiccup laughed before he went to go make himself a tuna sandwich and grab his favorite drink–strawberry Nesquik. He might be turning seventeen the following year, but his love for his favorite drink will never die down. He walked over to his movie pit couch and made himself comfortable as he reached over and grabbed his sketch book and pencil and turned to a blank page. With his sandwich in his right hand and his pencil in his left, Hiccup stared at the page as he hovered the pencil over it.

After staring at the blank page for five minutes, he sighed and nibbled on his sandwich. He still couldn't shake off what happened at the gym earlier today with Astrid. She was the first person to ever really rile him up the way she did. Hiccup may have an attitude and a temper, but he never lashed out at people; he would snap at them of course, but never really yell or anything. In class he always had to put up with her glares and her constant snapping at him whenever he called her "milady" or said something sarcastic. She managed to get on his nerves in seconds that she could hold a record. They hadn't even known each other for a month and he already hated her–well, not necessarily hate since he wasn't the type to hate on others, but more of a strong dislike. He disliked her attitude. He disliked her personality. He disliked the way she handled things. He disliked her constant snapping and glaring. He disliked so many things about her yet, there was something else about her that he couldn't stop thinking about.

Was it her stunning, goddess-like looks? Her strong attitude? The way she worked hard for her passions?

He couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but there was something there that he actually _liked_ about her. When he snapped out of his thoughts, he looked down at the paper and widened his eyes. He didn't know how long he had been zoned out for, but during that time, he had found himself actually drawing Astrid. It was a portrait and he had gone into so much detail with it to her crooked smile, to her small freckles, and even to the small strands that stuck out of her mostly perfect braid. He smiled a bit at it before he frowned and tore the page from the book and threw it towards the trash bin, but missed, causing it to fall next to it. He decided he would pick it up later when he got up.

After some time, Hiccup got up from his spot on the couch and walked back over to the kitchen and placed his empty plate in the sink. He went over to the basketball rack and picked up a ball and bounced it a few times before he moved around the space and shot it into the hoop. He dipped the ball between his legs and around him before he shot it again. He practiced for another ten minutes until he stopped and sat on the floor. He found himself staring at his foot for a long time as his mind wandered off again, opening a door at the back of it that he had tried to keep locked.

 _"And there's number thirty-five making his way around the last lap," he heard a loud voice say through the speakers. "Unbelievable! He's pulling in quick right behind number twelve, twenty-six, and four! And...oh! He just passed number twelve!"_

 _He felt his feet pounding against the tartan track as he rounded the turn, passing the boy to his right. He felt cool air come in and out of his nose, knowing it was easiest for him to breathe that way than through his mouth. He never looked back and never looked to either of his sides knowing it would just distract him. He was scrawny, yes, but he was fast and that was what mattered in this race. Seeing that there were only two boys in front of him, he picked up his pace a bit._

 _"And there he is, passing number twenty-six, folks!" he heard the man say as he passed the boy donned in black and yellow. He stared straight ahead at the last boy in front of him and saw that they were rounding the last turn, the finish line straight ahead of them. He sprinted, ignoring the aching feeling in his legs and his sore feet, as he reached the boy in front of him. He saw him look back and pick up his pace–the boy may be fast, but he was faster. When they reached the metal bleachers, he sprinted with everything he had, passing the boy and making it past the finish line and bending over to catch his breath._

 _"Passing the finish line is Hiccup Haddock, from Berk High School," the man said over the speakers. "He will be your first national's winner to win all four chosen events." The crowd cheered as Hiccup stood up from his bent position and he watched as the other boys made it past the finish line. The last boy he passed made eye-contact with him and sent him an angry glare. He knew that boy had a streak of winning races, and when he was put up against him and other boys like him, he knew he'd be heavy competition._

 _"Hiccup!" he turned his head to see his father and Gobber walking over to him, big smiles plastered on their faces. Behind them was the rest of Hiccup's track team who were cheering and running over to him. They lifted him up and cheered his name. He made eye-contact with Stoick who was beaming proudly at him, seeing his son as a champion. When he was set back onto his feet he felt one of his teammates tap his shoulder and jutted their thumb over their shoulder to three people making their way over to them. He looked at them and saw that they were carrying clipboards and wearing suits, much like his father._

 _Stoick and Gobber walked over to them and as he watched as they talked, he saw both men's eyes widen before they turned over and gestured for him to come over. Hiccup walked over to them and smiled at the older people who smiled back._

 _"Um, Hiccup, these people are from some of the biggest colleges in the country," Stoick began and gestured to the three people. "Oh, really? That's cool," Hiccup said as he looked them over. One by one, the three shook hands with Hiccup before Stoick introduced them. "This is Jeremy Foley, Bernard Muir, and Kevin White. They're all the athletic directors at the University of Florida, Stanford University, and Duke University."_

 _Hiccup widened his eyes at the men before him and they all chuckled before they shook hands with him. "Pleasure to meet you, Hiccup." The boy stumbled over his words until he found them. "W-What are you all doing here?"_

 _Gobber looked at the men who nodded and he smiled at Hiccup. "They all want to offer you scholarships for track and even cross-country."_

 _Hiccup's green eyes doubled in size even more as he tried to take in the information. "R-Really? You want to offer_ me _scholarships to your universities?" They all nodded before Bernard stepped forward and spoke. "You're one of the finest runners we've ever seen. As creepy as it might sound, we've been watching your races since you first started. You have great stamina, great commitment from what your coach had told us, and give everything you've got in your events._ That _is a true runner, and we all believe you deserve these scholarships, all you have to do is choose which one you think fits you most."_

 _The runner looked at them all and beamed. "Thank you so much, it means a whole lot to me. How would I know who to choose?" Jeremy stepped forward and smiled. "Easy, you'll be visiting our campuses and getting a good look at what we have to offer to you." Kevin nodded in agreement. "You can take as much time as you need to choose. But know that we're all happy to offer you this scholarship. You have great potential in being a star athlete and runner."_

Hiccup felt himself come back to reality, his eyes wandering over his foot until he felt his prosthetic beginning to feel uncomfortable. He reached down and tried to yank the pant leg of his jeans up but it got caught on his prosthetic. He felt his blood boiling and sweat running down his neck as he tried to pull at his jeans. He grunted and whimpered in irritation before he managed to get his pant leg free and fumbled with the silicon of his prosthetic. He growled when he couldn't unlatch any of the straps and he began to pull on it. He gritted his teeth, trying to get it off of him as his body starting twitching and his mind kept wandering back to the days he had his foot still.

When he had everything planned out for his life.

His breathing began to change into short, quick breaths, and his face contorted with pain as he tried to take it off. He yelled in anger when he finally managed to yank the prosthetic off and threw it across the room, causing it to hit the wall across from him. He looked at what remained of his left leg and a small sob escaped his mouth as he put his head in his hands and cried softly.

He heard a small squeak and turned his head to see Sharpshot bounding over to him, his nails making small scratching noises against the wooden floors. He hopped onto Hiccup's knee and stood on his hind legs, putting his small hands on Hiccup's forearm. He squeaked again, this time to get Hiccup's attention, knowing something was wrong with his best friend. Hiccup slowly rose his head, eyes red, and face streaked with tears. Sharpshot wedged himself between Hiccup's arm and began to place small licks at the tear stains on his cheeks. Hiccup smiled and held his hand out to the rat who hopped onto it. He gently scratched his head and Sharpshot squeaked in pleasure at the gesture.

"I'm sorry, Sharp," he said quietly as the rat looked at him. "I just miss the way things were before." The rat squeaked and tilted his head as if telling him to continue. "It's just..." he paused and thought for a moment. "I had everything planned out. I would keep running and winning my races until I finished high school, and then pick the scholarship and university that offered what I wanted. Then the accident happened and I ended up losing my leg."

He heard heavier footsteps come towards him and when he looked up he saw Toothless standing in front of him with his prosthetic in his mouth. He whimpered and dropped it at Hiccup's feet, nudging it closer to him. Hiccup smiled knowing what the dog was trying to do.

He picked it up and straightened out his leg before he set Sharpshot on his shoulder and began to slip the prosthetic back on. "Thanks bud," he said softly and rubbed the dog's head. Toothless suddenly pounced on him and pinned him down as he licked his face, getting Sharpshot in the process. The rat squeaked in annoyance and ran over away from them and began to lick himself clean.

"Agh! Toothless you know that doesn't wash out!"

* * *

Astrid awoke the next day feeling quite odd. She couldn't stop thinking about what Gobber had said after practice the other day about Hiccup. Did he really used to be different at one point? As much as she tried to convince herself that it was true, she only came down to one answer: no. Hiccup was nothing was a rude, sarcastic asshole that she wanted nothing to do with. He got on her nerves more than anyone else ever had before and it irritated her more than the guy himself.

Every time she had something to say, he'd come back with some snarky comment. The fact that she had two classes with him _and_ had to see him after school at _her_ volleyball practices riled her up. When he made her fall yesterday, she had never been more humiliated in her life even if the girls on the team said nothing and looked afraid. Even though he had said he didn't do it on purpose, she couldn't bring herself to believe him. He irritated her. End of story. But then again, there was something about him that didn't seem all that irritating.

Yet, she refused to think more about it. She didn't even know that the guy existed before last week, so why should she care or even think about him? But even as she got ready and left the house to go to school, she still couldn't stop thinking about Gobber's words.

If Hiccup had been a different person before, what changed? She wanted to ask him herself, but when Gobber had said that it wasn't his or anyone's story to tell, something in his voice changed when he had said his next words.

 _"But let's just say that he had every reason to have built a wall around himself."_

Part of her wanted to believe his words, and part of her even wanted to change the way she treated him, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. If he was going to still be an asshole to her, then so be it, she would be twice the asshole he was.

Astrid walked into her film class and sat down at her usual spot. She found that the seat next to her was empty and she frowned. Hiccup was always in class before her, if not earlier than all the other students. Just when the bell was about to ring, she saw Hiccup walking into the classroom, looking tired as ever. He quietly apologized to Mr. Phillips and sat down at his computer next to her. That's when she noticed that his eyes were red and puffy. Had he been crying yesterday?

After the teacher gave them the clear to work on their latest projects, Astrid looked at Hiccup and actually felt... _concern_? Before she could stop herself, she turned to face him and leaned her head to look at him more.

"Are you okay?"

Hiccup scoffed. "Oh look, it actually has a heart." Astrid frowned. "I'm was just asking if you were okay since you look horrible." Hiccup turned to look at her and smirked. "Thanks for the compliment, Milady."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "What's up with you and calling me that?"

He shrugged and clicked the mouse around on the screen. "I don't know. It's kind of grown on me, even if you think otherwise."

If she was being honest, the nickname had actually grown on her. Though, that didn't mean he still irritated her and the name irritated her as well, because they did. She crossed her arms and rested them on the table. "Well, you basically say it everyday to me, so it has grown on me. But it still irritates me," she paused. "And so do you."

Hiccup chuckled. "I could say the same to you."

"How nice," she joked. "Now seriously, are you okay?" Hiccup frowned at her weirdly. "I wouldn't expect you to ask me something like that, you know. Since we literally bite at each other's throats all the time." She rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "Look, I'm just trying to be nice. But apparently, it's not really working."

He sighed and shrugged. "You want an answer? Fine. I'm okay."

"You don't look okay."

"Astrid, you wanted an answer. I gave you one. Now leave it alone," he said lowly, and for the first time in her life, Astrid found herself backing down from asking him anymore about it. They sat in silence as they worked on their computers before Hiccup spoke.

"So, how's practicing for basketball going?"

She groaned. "Honestly, not good. Gobber says I'm lacking things from my form and I keep messing up when I go to shoot the ball. He also says I need to work on blocking and trying to avoid getting the ball taken." Hiccup laughed softly at her response. "Gobber's always pestering about the littlest things. It's usually because he wants you to do well on the court."

"I know, but he doesn't even really show me, mostly because he can't since he lost his hand and his foot," she said, but she didn't notice when Hiccup stiffened at her words. "What about you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You seem good at sports, but yet you don't actually play on a team."

Hiccup shrugged. "Not really a team player type, as you can tell." He was lying to her, and he knew that. But he couldn't tell her about his prosthetic or even the rule regarding sports in his case.

"Because of your shit attitude?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and he laughed. "Exactly because of my shit attitude." They fell back into silence again and Hiccup smiled out of nowhere, causing Astrid to give him a weird look. "What?"

"I just realized that this is the first time we've actually been somewhat civil to each other."

Astrid gave him a crooked smile and rolled her eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day. "I'd give it an hour before we start going at each other again, mostly because I still don't like you."

Hiccup smirked. "I still don't like you either, Milady."

* * *

A/N: So Hiccstrid is making a bit of progress, but take Astrid's words on them going at each other again. Knowing them by now, it's bound to happen the next chapter. Did anyone catch any hints on what's to come in the next chapter? ( **Hint** : it's in the last part.) Well, I finally added a flash back to Hiccup's running days and I even added in the actual athletic directors from those universities, but it was still quite sad to write it. Though Hiccup has a past that's going to be quite hard to write because spoiler alert: losing his foot wasn't the only thing that changed Hiccup. Our modern day dragon rider has secrets of his own, you know. **But** , I won't be revealing that until later on in the story.

I know it seems confusing that he's actually a runner yet knows how to play other sports, but I'll be explaining that sometime soon in later chapters as well. When I thought of this story, I wanted to make Hiccup an actual **student-athlete**. He's still nerdy, but with an athletic twist. (;

Also, thank you guys so much for the many reviews, follows, and favorites! This story already has 1,100 views on just the first two chapters! You guys are awesome, so thank you again. (:


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Astrid walked into the gym after sixth period, clad in her volleyball attire. She was the first one in the gym, so she took the time to practice her serves, sets, bumps, and spikes. Walking over to the cart full of volleyballs, she rolled it to one side of the net and began to practice. She started with her serves, first with underhands and slowly moving into overhands. Then she started to set the balls a few times before setting them over the net and moving onto bumping and spiking the ball over the net. By the time she was done, all the volleyballs were on the other side of the net, scattered all over the place. She was sweating and panting from not stopping and she bended over to place her hands on her knees.

"Aren't you going to pick those up?" Astrid whipped around and saw Hiccup walking into the gym. "Obviously I am," she snapped and she began to walk over to the other side of the net. "Okay, okay. No need to be harsh," he said with a smirk and raised his hands in a surrender pose.

"You're irritating, you know that?" she said, her voice tinted with annoyance.

Hiccup shrugged as he set his backpack down. He walked over to the cart and rolled it over to the other side of the net and began following Astrid with it so that she could put the scattered volleyballs in.

It turned out that Astrid was proven to be correct about the two fighting later on in the day. During the last half hour of second period, Hiccup had made a comment about how Astrid should change her hair up a bit instead of keeping it in her usual braid. She had taken it the wrong way and lashed out at him about how he was rude and could never keep his mouth shut. When sixth period had rolled by, things had only gotten worse. Astrid had complained about how Hiccup never did anything in the class and that had led to Hiccup yelling at her and nearly causing a fight between the two.

"Want to play a game, Milady?" Hiccup asked as Astrid bended over to pick up the last ball and placed it in the cart. She looked at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "You want to play volleyball with me?" He shrugged. "Why not? We've got some time to kill, don't you think?"

Astrid pondered over the idea for a moment before she shrugged and smiled. "Sounds good. I serve first!" He watched as she grabbed a volleyball and bounced it hard against the gym floor a few times before she trotted over to the other side of the net. Hiccup took off his hoodie, revealing his black athletic muscle tee that he had thrown on that morning. As he was throwing his hoodie aside, Astrid couldn't help but run her eyes over his arms that were made of lean muscles, indents showing where his biceps were and his broad shoulders. The tee was hugging tightly against his body to the point where she could make out his strong chest and lean abs under it and she could see his collarbone through the high collar of the shirt.

She didn't know how long she was staring for, but she heard Hiccup clear his throat and she snapped out of her trance. She glared at him when she saw him smirking at her and he rolled his eyes and made his way to get farther from the net. He got into his stance and watched as Astrid did an underhand serve, sending the ball flying over the net. He ran over and bumped it over to her side again and she set it over the net. Hiccup nearly missed the ball, but luckily, he slid on his knees, putting most of his weight on his right, and bumped the ball over. Astrid ran up and spiked the ball down onto his side of the net and whooped when it touched the ground. Hiccup couldn't help but smile at her cheerful attitude in that moment.

For the next twenty minutes, they played game after game, and in the end, Astrid won. Hiccup chuckled at her enthusiasm and walked over to her side of the net and picked up the ball. Astrid watched as Hiccup jumped up a bit and shot the ball into the cart that was across the gym and couldn't help but be impressed.

"You're really good when it comes to basketball," she admitted with a nod.

Hiccup smiled at her and shrugged. "I used to play in my free time and I used to be on the basketball team when I was a freshman." She gave him a puzzled look. "Why don't you play anymore?" He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Um, I kind of lost the feeling to it. I guess I just stopped playing because I lost the feeling I got when I played." It wasn't a total lie, because ever since he lost his foot, everything had lost its spark to him.

"Well, you're really good. You should train the basketball team until basketball season starts," she joked with a crooked smile.

Hiccup was about to respond when an idea struck him. "Actually," he began slowly. "I could if I wanted to, but not the _whole_ team." Astrid gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" He smiled. "How do you feel about me training you in basketball?"

Astrid rose an eyebrow at him. " _Train_ me in basketball? I wouldn't exactly think you'd offer me something like that, you know."

"I'm just trying to be nice," he said, repeating her words from earlier that day.

She rolled her eyes at him. "You don't have to train me, you know."

He smiled. "Well, I want to."

She thought about it for a moment before giving him a slight nod. "Okay. But how is that going to work?" Hiccup twisted his lips to the side as he thought it out. "We could stay here after volleyball practice?"

She shook her head. "The gym closes after volleyball practice. Or at least Gobber has to lock up most days."

"Well, you have only six classes, right?" She nodded and he continued. "We could meet here after our sixth period classes and practice throughout seventh period. Then we would just clean up before volleyball practice."

"What about Thursdays when everyone gets out?" she asked and cocked her hip to the side. "If I'm going to practice it has to be everyday besides the weekend."

Hiccup scratched the back of his head and looked at her. "I have an idea or a place we could go to practice, but it's not really an outdoor area..."

She gave him another puzzled look. "Where?"

"Um, I have a small court at my place, with a hoop and rack filled with basketballs. If you want, we could practice there on Thursdays, only if you want though," he explained and she thought about it and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay, so now that that's planned, when should we start?" he asked and saw that the other team members were already entering the gym.

Astrid smiled. "Tomorrow before practice."

"Wait, w-what?" he stuttered.

"I said, tomorrow before practice. Unless you're busy?" Hiccup shook his head and smiled. "Tomorrow's fine." She gave him that famous crooked smile of hers before she turned around and walked over to her teammates. Hiccup frowned wondering how they went from biting at each other's necks to making plans with each other.

It was just weird.

* * *

It was around four when practice ended and Hiccup was currently picking up the volleyballs that were scattered around the gym. Astrid was walking into the gym after showering and changing into her normal clothes in the locker rooms. She saw Hiccup picking up the volleyballs and decided to help him, much to his relief.

"Thanks," he said when they finished picking up the balls. "It gets kind of tiring in all honesty."

She chuckled. "Seems like it."

Before Hiccup could say something back, he heard Gobber yelling at him as he entered the gym. "Hiccup! Yer father wants you to call him when you get home!"

"Why?" he asked with a confused look. Ever since Hiccup had lost his foot, Stoick had been more distant from him and they rarely talked when they were home. It was only when Hiccup had asked to move out that they talked and the first time the man had taken his time to make the place perfect for his son. But after that, Hiccup couldn't remember a single time his father actually had a real conversation with him. The tension between the two was a small part of the reason Hiccup wanted to move out, and Stoick had known that or at least guessed. Yet he didn't actually know the main reason why, nor did anyone close to him.

And Hiccup wanted nothing more but to push that reason into the deepest and darkest part of his mind.

"...iccup? Hiccup? Hiccup!" he heard Gobber yell again, snapping him out of his thoughts. "What? Yeah?"

"Were you even listening to what I was sayin'?" the man asked annoyed. Hiccup shook his head and apologized and Gobber rolled his eyes. "I was sayin' that he just told me to tell you to call him when you get home. That's it."

Hiccup sighed and nodded. "Okay, I will." Gobber nodded and walked away.

Astrid frowned. "What was that all about?"

"It's nothing, really. My dad probably just wants to boast about new projects and such to me." Again, it was a lie. Stoick probably just wanted to know when he had to pay the rent for Hiccup's apartment or the phone bill.

"What do you mean new projects?" she asked as she walked over to get her bags. "Um, he kind of has a high position at his job," he said hesitantly.

"Oh, what's his position?"

Hiccup hesitated again and rubbed the back of his neck in that nervous tick of his. "He's...um, the CEO of Berk's Industry."

Astrid's sapphire eyes doubled in size. "The _CEO_ of Berk's Industry?! Wait..." she paused and held out a finger at him. "Is your dad's nickname Stoick the Vast?" Hiccup nodded and she ran a hand through her hair. "Geez, wow. Okay, so you're basically one of the richest families in Berk."

"If you put it that way, then I guess so," he mumbled and she raised her eyebrows. "Wow, you're like really rich, but I would have expected you to act more like it. You know, because you're rich and all."

Hiccup sighed and shook his head. "No, actually. I get what you're saying, but whether you believe it or not, I'm not that type of person. Technically, I'm the opposite and I'd rather not let people know about the money I have."

"Why not?"

"Because then people are going to think it's a free invite to ask me to get them stuff, take them out, and all that being a fake friend to get what they want. If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm not easy to get through or even be friends with right away. You really have to prove to me that you can be a real friend and not just some fake."

"So you have standards?" she asked as she walked over to the net and began to take it down. Hiccup shrugged. "You could say that." Astrid nodded. "How many real friends do you have then?" When Hiccup didn't answer, Astrid turned to look at him playing with the hem of his shirt. "Hiccup?"

"In all honesty, I don't exactly have a real friend," he admitted softly. "It's not that I don't socialize, well, maybe, but it's mostly because no one's ever really tried to get to know me or be my friend. I don't blame them, honestly. I don't let people in that easily and it would take a lifetime for me to ever share things with someone. Or even find someone who's willing to listen."

For the first time since she had known him, Astrid didn't see the sarcastic asshole that irritated her all the time. This time, she saw someone who needed a friend, someone who was... _alone_. Part of her wanted to go out and actually hug him and tell him that she would be his friend, but there was something that was stopping her. She couldn't pinpoint what it was, but there was something that wouldn't allow her to say the words she wanted to or even move towards him. It wasn't a thought, but more of an uneasy feeling–she was afraid, and yet she didn't know why.

Instead, she found herself giving him a sad look and saying, "I'm sorry, Hiccup."

The green-eyed boy waved it off. "It's fine really, I have Toothless and Sharpshot by my side."

"Who's Toothless and Sharpshot?" she asked, smiling a little at the names. Hiccup chuckled. "They're my pets, or basically my non-human best friends."

Astrid gave him a curious look. "What's with the names?"

He grinned. "I'll explain that another day, Milady."

And for the first time again that day, she found herself not minding the nickname.

* * *

Hiccup walked into his apartment to be greeted by Toothless, who stood on his single hind leg and placed his massive paws on Hiccup's shoulders to lick his face. He still couldn't believe that Toothless towered over him by three inches because of his gray wolf genetics. He laughed as Toothless licked his face before he hopped back down onto his three legs and followed Hiccup upstairs to his bedroom.

He placed his backpack at the foot of his bed and went to go change into some comfortable clothes. When he came back, he suddenly remembered that he had to call Stoick. He took his phone out of the smaller pocket of his backpack and quickly dialed his father's numbers and waited for him to pick up. After three rings, he heard Stoick's deep voice at the other end.

" _Hello?_ "

"Uh, hey dad. Gobber told me to call you?" Hiccup said in an unsure tone.

" _Ah, yes. Um, I was meaning to discuss something with you son._ "

"Discuss what?" he asked, now suddenly interested.

" _So, I think you understand the importance of the company and my position, correct?_ "

"Yeah?" he drawled out.

" _Well, I'm not going to be the CEO for the rest of my life_ _,_ " he heard Stoick chuckle a bit. _"So, I was going to get you into training and getting to know the company more so that when you're of age, you'll take over my position for me_."

Hiccup widened his eyes and paled. "W-What? Dad, look. I appreciate the offer, but being the CEO of Berk's Industry isn't for me."

He heard Stoick sigh over the phone. " _Hiccup, you need to understand just how important this is. You need to be prepared to take my position when you're ready–_ "

"What about the things I want to do later on in life?" he snapped.

" _What other things?_ "

"Things _I_ want to do. I don't want to take your place as the CEO of the industry. Maybe I have other plans for myself, have you ever thought about that?"

There was a long silence until his father spoke again. " _In all honesty, no. It just never really occurred to me on what you can do..._ now _. You know, since..."_

Hiccup frowned and felt his blood boil with anger. "So basically you're saying that you never thought about what I wanted to do, _just_ because I lost my foot? What, because I lost all those scholarships and now you have to spend your money on me going to college? Because apparently, everything I do _has_ to involve my fucking foot?"

" _No, Hiccup, that's not what I was saying–_ "

"No, that was _exactly_ what you were saying."

" _Son, stop_ _. I'm just simply saying that the things you were best at did, in fact, involve your foot._ "

The green-eyed boy faltered a bit and he closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke, but he suddenly found it hard to breathe. "Well, you know what? I'm sorry for not being able to prevent the incident that made me lose my foot. I'm sorry for not being able to do sports. And I'm sorry for being such a big disappointment in your life."

" _Hiccup, no, that's not–_ " Stoick began quickly, realizing what he had just said, but Hiccup cut him off.

"I'll talk to you some other time, bye," and with that, he ended the call and chucked his phone onto his bed. He sat down at the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands as he tried to even out his breathing. But his breathing didn't even out and he felt himself breathing in quick short breaths as he clamped his eyes shut. When he opened them, all he saw was a hospital bed and shadowy figures coming towards him. He watched as their hands reached out and pinned him down on the bed, grabbing him everywhere and gripping his left stump painfully. He felt his mind going in and out of focus from reality to imagination and he suddenly felt a cold sweat all over and he could have sworn his vision was becoming blurry. He widened his eyes when he began to gasp for air, his hand flying to his chest as he tumbled off the bed and onto the ground, curling himself up into a ball.

Memories and words were all that took the trigger his anxiety attacks, everything coming back to him in one big wave. He didn't know what to feel or what to say, all he knew was that everything led back to losing his leg and that other... _thing_. He tried to hold his breath, but it didn't work and he found himself blinking back tears that had begun clouding his vision. He began to lose all sense of his surroundings, not even noticing Toothless coming over to aid him.

Toothless whimpered as he nudged his owner with his nose and prodded him with his paw. He noticed the change in Hiccup's breathing and ran over when he saw his hand flying to his chest as he fell onto the ground. Understanding, the mixed-breed ran downstairs and grabbed one of his loud squeaky toys in the form of a hedgehog and ran back upstairs, but not before letting Sharpshot hop on his back. He ran over to Hiccup and placed the squeaky toy in front of him. Sharpshot moved so that he was on Toothless's head and kept his balance as the dog used his massive paw to press down on the toy, emitting a loud squeak. Hiccup jumped when he heard the loud noise, not realizing that he had held his breath when he heard it. He looked down at the hedgehog toy before he looked around him and finally let out his breath. After his breathing evened out after a few moments, he looked up and saw Toothless and Sharpshot's heads tilted to the left as they looked at him. Sharpshot squeaked from the top of Toothless's head and Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief.

He sat up and gently rubbed Toothless's head and then Sharpshot's as he smiled. "Thanks you guys." Toothless barked in response, startling the rat as he hopped onto Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup laughed softly and scratched the little guy's head. "How you managed to know what to do is beyond my mind, but it worked," he said and looked at both animals.

Toothless tilted his head again and placed his massive paw on Hiccup's knee. The green-eyed teen smiled at him before he began to laugh when Sharpshot started to climb all over his face, his little nails scratching softly against his face. Toothless pushed Hiccup down onto the floor and plopped his head down on his chest, causing him to groan at the massive dog's weight. Hiccup watched as the dog's soft brown eyes slowly began to close, and he felt Sharpshot making his forehead a bed as he walked in tiny circles and curled up in his spot, putting his head in Hiccup's auburn locks.

Hiccup smiled to himself, knowing that as long as he had Toothless and Sharpshot with him, he wouldn't need anyone else to make him happy.

* * *

Astrid walked into her house, exhausted from practice. She walked up the stairs to her bedroom and set down her bags before she flopped down onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She felt her phone vibrate and when she checked she saw that it was a text from Scott.

 _Scott: Hey babe I just moved into my parents basement. U should come by sometime and check it out(;_

She rolled her eyes and didn't respond, instead tossing her phone to the side. Her eyes wandered back up to the ceiling and she found herself thinking about the green-eyed boy. Astrid frowned, but she couldn't help but keep thinking about him. She didn't know what it was, but something about him just _caught_ her attention.

Was it his skills in sports? His intelligence? Or his extremely good looks?

She widened her eyes. Did she really find Hiccup attractive? She shook her head to get the thought away because she _had_ a boyfriend, maybe not the best, but she wasn't like that. Yet, she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to today in the gym when he had opened up to her, just a bit. And also when he unintentionally showed off his lean body to her without even knowing it.

But the way her heart felt when he had admitted that he didn't really have anyone to call a friend, as if someone had been gripping it, made her question something. Should she be his friend or at least try to? She wanted to try as much as she denied it to herself, but there was something that was stopping her. She knew there was something about him that she was afraid of, but she couldn't figure out what. It was a new feeling to her–being afraid wasn't something Astrid Hofferson felt. She was fearless, everyone knew that nothing or no one could make her afraid.

But Hiccup was a different story, and she didn't know why.

Astrid then remembered that he would be training her with basketball the next day and the following weeks to come until basketball season rolled around, and suddenly, she felt herself genuinely smile at the thought. Not because she would be getting better at basketball, but because Hiccup was going to be the one training her. He had offered to train her without her even asking to and he was dedicating the time to make her a better player because he _wanted_ to.

And that made her smile grow even more.

* * *

A/N: Da-da-da, training's here. Sounds like I should have titled this story **How To Train Your Basketball Player** , right? Frankly, that was one of my options as the title before I posted this story. But, the title I chose will fit the story more once I get things running again (Get it? Get it? No, okay...). Anyways, as you can see, Hiccstrid is pretty bipolar when it comes to the two of them, but it'll get better eventually. So some things went down here with Hiccup giving Astrid a view into a small portion of his life, Stoick causing Hiccup to have an anxiety attack, Toothless and Sharpshot saving him, and Astrid having a slight change in attitude.

Just a note: Hiccup, Astrid, and the gang are currently sixteen and while they look the same from the first movie at that age, I'm making them all look the way the did in RTTE/HTTYD2. They're all currently Juniors, but I'm just making them all hit puberty earlier than in the franchise, hahaha.

I'm extremely surprised by the amount of views, follows, favorites, and reviews this story has so far with only three (now four) chapters up. Thank you guys again for your support on this story, it means a lot.

Okay, so I'm thinking of doing this thing where after every chapter, you guys guess or come up with theories on what's going to happen next or something that I point out in my author's note. You can leave them in the reviews or even PM me about them. This isn't a contest or anything, it's mostly for fun and to see how creative you guys can get, and I'd love to see what you guys think. So, let's hit off the guesses and theories with the last part of the chapter:

 **What is it about Hiccup that you think makes Astrid afraid of him or afraid of becoming his friend?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"You irritate the shit out of me, you know that?"

"Oh, I guess not since I've never noticed how you literally tell me all the time."

"You sarcastic little ass–"

"Astrid! Hiccup!" Mr. Phillips's voice boomed across the room, causing everyone to go silent. "Will you two quit being so rude to each other and _work already_?"

Both teens muttered an apology in response and went back to work on their latest project. They glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes and glared at each other before turning back to their screens.

"Thanks for getting me in trouble," Astrid sneered.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh, my bad, Milady. Maybe you shouldn't pick a shit fight with me and you wouldn't have to get in trouble."

"So what, you planned this?" she asked angrily.

"May I remind you who _yells_ more in our arguments. Last time I checked, someone would have to be _deaf_ to not be able to hear you."

Astrid growled at him and had to resist the urge to punch him. "God, I hate you."

"I love me too," he joked and went back to work on his latest design.

Their current projects were to come up with a film revolving around the viking era and to create a story with it. It seemed like all fun and games until it was announced that they'd be working in pairs, coincidentally, the person sitting next to them. It was no surprise that Hiccup and Astrid managed to be paired up together. With that being the case, they constantly argued on what they were going to do and what their story and graphics were going to be.

After a few days, they finally settled on doing a film with dragons and vikings. The came up with a story that was revolved around vikings killing dragons who raided their village and a young teen, whom Hiccup would play, would be the first to befriend one after three-hundred years.

Astrid sighed after a few minutes of silence and looked over at Hiccup's screen. "How's that dragon coming along?"

"I don't know, you tell me," he said and gestured towards the screen. "I'm not sure what color to make him though."

"Black."

"What?"

"Make him black. You know, to make him look all cool and a badass that flies through the night, _unseen_ ," she explained, wriggling her fingers before her face lit up and her mouth opened into a wide smile. "Then you can call him a Night Fury!"

Hiccup chuckled. "A Night Fury?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

He thought about it for a moment before he smiled at her. "Night Fury it is."

Astrid beamed and clasped her hands together. "Okay, so can it be my dragon?"

"No."

"Why not? I named it!" she protested and crossed her arms.

He scoffed. "Did you forget who's _making_ the damn thing?" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "See? You don't even respect it!"

Hiccup found himself letting his face go slack so that his eyebrows made his eyelids lower down halfway and his bottom lip stuck out to the side in a small pout. If Astrid hadn't been annoyed with the boy, she would have found his "you've-got-to-be-kidding-me" face extremely amusing.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," he said, facial expression still the same as his shoulders bounced a little as he spoke.

Astrid couldn't help the small tug at the corner of her lips as she watched him. Soon, she found herself resisting the urge to laugh as she turn away from him and shook as she silently laughed. Hiccup looked over at her and his eyes widened in concern, thinking that he'd made her cry. When she turned around, laughing, he rose an eyebrow at her.

"What happened now?" he asked, smiling a bit himself when she laughed.

"The f-facial expressions you m-make," she managed to say in between her laughter.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at her and shook his head amusingly. "I'll take it that they make you laugh because of how funny you find them."

"That's true actually," she said, ceasing her laughter to point a finger at him.

The green-eyed boy looked at her wide-eyed when she stopped laughing immediately, only to have her go back into her laughing fit again. Suddenly, he found himself laughing along with her, mostly at how contagious her laugh was. He realized that although things weren't always good between them, things weren't always bad–at the end of the day, the good and the bad seemed to meet up at the middle and even each other out.

It was a saying he remembered hearing before on a show, they had called it regression to the mean.

So as he laughed with her, he knew they would go back to biting at each other's throats and then treat each other as if they were friends. Though, he couldn't help but wonder sometimes if they were, in fact, friends. Part of him hoped they could be, the other part wasn't sure. He was done with losing everything and if becoming friends with Astrid meant he'd end up losing her like he lost everything else, then he didn't want to take the risk.

But then again, since when did he care about her in such a way? Even though they constantly fought with each other, they always seemed to be drawn back to each other. Sure, they couldn't avoid each other in their classes or anything, but they could avoid each other at other times. Except for volleyball, but basketball training? _That_ they could have avoided, but even if neither of them wanted to admit it, something about the other person made them want to stay.

And things staying in their lives wasn't something common for either of them, but maybe this would be different.

* * *

"Astrid, wait up!"

The blonde turned her head and looked over her shoulder to see the other blonde running down the hallway towards her to catch up with her. Ruffnut came up beside her and they linked arms as they proceeded to walk down the hall and towards the lunch line.

"So, are you excited for the homecoming dance?" Ruffnut asked, shimmying her shoulders a bit. Astrid smiled and shook her head in amusement before shrugging. "To be honest, not really."

The twin gave her a wide-eyed look. " _Not really_? How could you _not_ be excited?! It's _homecoming_ , everyone's excited."

"Well, not this year, Ruff. I've got a lot of stuff going on with sports and school and Junior year is what colleges pay most attention to," Astrid explained as they grabbed their lunches. "I'm not wasting any time on stupid dances, _even_ homecoming because it'll just distract me."

"Ugh, you're such a downer," she groaned in annoyance as they walked to their usual lunch table in the center of the courtyard. Unlike most schools, Berk High School usually had their students spend lunch outside in their main courtyard. There were red lunch tables around and some black benches on the side by the trees and grass, though some students walked around or sat on the grass or on the yellow and light blue pyramid stacked blocks around campus.

Astrid sat down across from Ruffnut as Scott came up to sit next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Hey babe, you never responded to my text." Astrid rolled her eyes and moved his arm off her shoulders. "That's because I just got home from practice and I was tired."

Scott ignored her explanation and continued talking. "Yeah, so I moved down into my parents' basement, you should come by some time."

"Okay Scott," she breathed and opened her water bottle, taking a sip from it.

Fishlegs and Tuffnut soon came to sit down with them later and Astrid watched as everyone conversed with each other. She found herself zoning out until she spotted a familiar auburn-haired boy. He was seated under a tree far away from everyone with his back pressed up against the trunk. All he had was a water bottle and a couple of apricots next to him. He seemed to be concentrated on something as he was looking down at his lap, frowning in concentration.

She felt herself smile a bit when she saw him twist his lips to the side and couldn't help but find it a tad bit adorable. Part of her wanted to go over there and sit down next to him and talk, but the other part of her knew it was better to stay where she was. She had a reputation to maintain and although Hiccup was growing on her, she couldn't bring herself to act as if he was her friend.

Astrid was taken out of her thoughts when she saw a blue-black volvo bus pull up into the school's parking lot in front of the courtyard. It seemed as if she wasn't the only one because soon all the students were taking notice of the bus. They all watched as the bus's doors opened and out came a group of students with duffle bags and uniforms on. It was then that Astrid remembered that today was the cross-country team's last meet at the school before going to the CCS Championship in two weeks. She took a closer look at the team's uniform and finally noticed the familiar mascot on the front.

It was a dragon known as the Skrill, the infamous mascot of Berserker High School.

She scowled at the team, knowing they were Berk's heaviest competition in all their sports. It was then that she noticed a bulky, red-haired teen step off the bus with a smug look plastered across his face.

Dagur DeRange, or most "jokingly" known as Dagur the Deranged.

Everyone knew the reputation Dagur had–he was crazy and always had some twisted way of getting things his way. He was known to inflict harm on other students and even went off on teachers back in middle school, but he had always been let off the hook. He was a sick, cruel person who enjoyed the idea of pain–he was _literally_ deranged in more ways than a mathematician could ever count.

Hiccup noticed the bus and for a brief second he saw Dagur as he was turning back to look down at his sketchbook before his head snapped back up. His eyes went wide and quickly, he tried packing all of his things, his hands trembling hard in a way one would not even think was possible. He glanced back over at the rivaling teen and his heart rate quickened when he saw Dagur make eye-contact with him and began to walk over to where he was seated.

"No, no, no..." Hiccup muttered to himself as he zipped up his backpack and stood up. Just when he was about to walk away, he felt a strong hand wrap around his elbow in a tight grip.

"Where do you think you're going, Hiccup?" Dagur asked with a smile. "Not even a hello? I'm so offended."

The green-eyed boy clamped his eyes shut and tried to even out his breathing. "Dagur, let go of my arm."

Dagur's grip only tightened as his smile grew. "Leaving so soon?"

Astrid watched the confrontation between the two boys and frowned. What was with those two? Slowly, she watched as Dagur turned Hiccup to face him and leaned in to whisper something into the other boy's ear. Whatever it was, it wasn't good because the next thing she knew, Hiccup's entire face turned into a ghostly shade of white and she saw his chest rise and fall quickly. She watched as Dagur let go of his arm and Hiccup stumbled a bit before he speed walked past the lunch tables and into the cafeteria. She saw Dagur laughing with a few of his team members before she got up, packed her things, and ran after Hiccup.

She caught a glimpse of his black hoodie as he turned the corner towards the boys' locker room and she jogged after him. She watched him push open the locker room door and rush in, nearly falling.

Hiccup felt his breathing come out in sharp, quick breaths as he rushed into the locker room, feeling his backpack drop somewhere by the door. Soon, his hoodie began to make him feel claustrophobic, making it even harder for him to breathe so he tried to yank it off, failing miserably as the sleeves wouldn't slip past his elbows. He whimpered as he shut his eyes and finally pulled the hoodie off, throwing it far away from him. He stumbled over to the sink and gripped the edges tightly as he leaned over it to even out his breathing.

"Calm down...just calm down..." he whispered to himself as he felt tears pool in his eyes, but Dagur's words still rung in his head. Hiccup reached up and fisted his hands in his sweaty hair and yelled loudly. He was too out of it to even notice Astrid come into the locker room with a shocked expression on her face.

Astrid first noticed his black backpack by the door and then his black hoodie that got thrown across the room. She then saw Hiccup pulling at his hair and yelling loudly and she couldn't help but feel... _pain_ in her heart. It was the same gripping feeling around her heart, squeezing it painfully as she watched him. After a few seconds, she finally came to her senses, and dropped her bag and ran over to him, wrapping her hands around his wrists.

"Hiccup!" she tried, but he didn't seem to acknowledge her as he flung his head back, nearly hitting it against the tile wall behind him. "Hiccup! Look at me!" she yelled over his voice, finally getting his attention.

Hiccup let his grip on his hair loosen as he looked up with tired eyes at the blonde blue-eyed girl. He looked around him and he let out a shaky sigh as he leaned back against the wall and slid down it and onto the tile floor. He looked down at his white sweat-stained shirt and blinked back tears, but it didn't go unnoticed by Astrid. She knelt down and put a hand on his knee and rubbed it in a soothing manner seeing the distraught look on his face, but immediately retracted her hand when Hiccup gasped and drew his knees into his chest. He hugged them tightly against him and scooted away from her, and for a moment, Astrid saw fear in his eyes.

That moment of fear was soon replaced as he glared at her. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

She frowned. "What do you think I'm doing?"

He nodded towards the door and then to his knee. "You were rubbing my knee. Why the hell would you do that for?" Astrid squinted her eyes at him. "Gee, I don't know, maybe because I found you in a distraught state and tried to sooth you?"

"By rubbing my knee."

Astrid threw her hands up. "Obviously! It's what everyone does when someone needs comforting! They rub someone's knee or shoulder or back in a comforting way to calm them down or make them know someone's there to help. And frankly, you were too far away for me to reach your shoulder, so, I rubbed your knee."

Hiccup stared her down, hard. "Don't ever do that again." The blonde gave him a confused look. "Why not?" She saw Hiccup stiffened as he looked at her with an incredulous look. "W-why not? _Why not_? Do you want to fucking touch me when I don't want to be touched or something?" he growled angrily, scooting back even more into the wall.

"What? No! I was just asking why not as in like..." she paused. "Gah, I don't know! Like why not let me soothe you like normal people usually do!"

He looked at her for a moment before he realized he was overreacting and sighed. "I'm sorry. I just don't...exactly like being touched by other people." Astrid tilted her head as if to let him continue. He bit the inside of his cheek as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Personal space issue."

"Oh," she said quietly. "Sorry, I didn't know."

He shook his head. "It's fine, really. I overreacted." Astrid nodded as she sat down on the floor with him. "So, what was that thing with Dagur? It seemed whatever he said to you shook you up pretty badly–"

"Can we not talk about that?" he said as he played with his fingers. "I'm just not really comfortable with talking about it."

Astrid gave him a sad smile. "Yeah, that's fine. I won't ask about it." But she knew he was hiding something from her, something he didn't want her to know. Part of her wanted to ask him, but seeing the distraught state he had been in, she didn't want to trigger it again. So she settled with dropping it, though not fully letting it drop knowing that it would have to be brought up again at some point. Whatever it was, she figured it was anything but good.

"Thanks," he said softly before he looked up at her with a small smile. "So, you excited for basketball training today?"

* * *

The sound of basketballs bouncing across the floor resonated throughout the gym as Hiccup practiced on half the court. He dipped the ball between his legs and spun around before shooting the ball into the hoop and grabbing another ball.

He had gone to the gym straight after sixth period since everyone else had to change and he knew Astrid wanted to change into non-sweaty clothes to practice in. Because he didn't have to do P.E., he didn't have to change back into his normal clothes, making it easier for him to leave quicker. He decided to pass some time by practicing on his own as he waited for Astrid. Part of him still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he was going to be training Astrid in basketball. It was weird considering how bipolar things were between them with biting at each other's necks one minute and the next one of them is running after the other to see if they're okay.

He still wondered why she had decided to go on in after him after the whole Dagur incident. How did she even notice the whole thing? Well, it was Astrid Hofferson, she notices anything she wants to notice. Though lately they've been a lot more civil with each other which was also quite odd since they acted like two wild animals trying to fight for a scrap of meat or dominance or over what was theirs.

He was soon taken out of his thoughts when he heard familiar footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Astrid clad in black basketball shorts and a light gray V-neck. Instead of the normal basketball shoes, she simply wore her running shoes and Nike socks. As she was walking towards him, he couldn't help but smile a little at how small she looked in the baggy clothing. Unlike her volleyball uniform that hugged her body in all the right places, the shirt and shorts did no good for her curves and for some reason, he actually found her adorable, and her perfect ponytail and bangs just added onto it.

"What are you smiling about?" he heard her ask as she came up to him.

Hiccup smirked. "Just thinking about how small you look in those shorts and that shirt."

Astrid narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh shut up."

He chuckled. "Okay, okay. Now, shall we get started, Milady?" This time, she smiled. "Of course."

"Okay," he began dramatically and gestured his arm out. "Welcome to basketball training. Let's see what you've got."

For the first ten minutes, Astrid showed Hiccup her form and shooting before showing him how she blocked. He frowned and thought for a moment before he went up to stand next to her.

"So, let's work on your shooting form," he said and she nodded. "You do lack some things when you shoot, but I'm going to have you try to shoot the ball in again."

Astrid nodded and went back to the center of the court and bounced the ball a few times before she ran towards the hoop. Doing what she did before, Astrid ran up and shot the ball towards the hoop, only to have Hiccup come from her right and smack the ball down. She was dumbfounded for a moment as he jogged a few feet away from her while bouncing the ball.

"You're too confident," he said bluntly as he came back to stand in front of her.

Astrid frowned. "Too confident? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you're too confident when you go to shoot the ball in. Now before you go on about how you should be confident about shooting, you also need to realize you need to be cautious of your surroundings as well. Being too confident messes up your form because you're also trying too hard to get the ball in too quick, quicker than you should be trying to. See how I managed to stop the ball from going in? That's because you weren't cautious of your surroundings–you didn't see me because all you were focusing on was the hoop," he explained.

"Shouldn't that be the objective though?" she asked and crossed her arms. "To shoot the ball in when you have the chance?"

He tilted his head and ignored her question. "What do you usually do after someone passes you the ball during a game?" Astrid shrugged. "I just keep going until I'm by the hoop and shoot it when I have the chance."

Hiccup nodded before he looked at her. "Okay, so I want you to answer this question: say in a game when you have the ball, the other team is surrounding you from the other sides, waiting to take that ball from you, but the hoop is right in front of you, yet you have a team member right by the hoop with no one blocking them. What would you do? Shoot the ball because it's right there or pass it to your team member who can shoot it from the side?"

"I would obviously try to shoot it myself if there's a clear shot in front of me," she said, cocking her hip to the side.

"Shooting the ball isn't the objective, it's working as a team," he began and threw the ball back and forth between his hands. "Basketball is a _team_ sport, and as a team, you _all_ work together to make that shot. _That's_ the objective. Now, there's the problem with being too confident, you don't even see the game as something where you can work together with the people who share that court with you–who share that win with you. If you were more cautious and weren't so confident about yourself, you would know that passing the ball to an open team member not only gives your team a better chance at making that shot, but it also means you're putting your faith in them and not just in yourself. _That's_ what a team is about."

Astrid looked dumbfounded as she took in Hiccup's words. She hated admitting things to herself, but she knew Hiccup's words held true even if he didn't realize it. During sports, she would always count on herself because she didn't want to give someone else the chance to ruin their win for them. She _had_ been too confident in herself her entire life with sports when really, she should have been counting on her teammates and putting her faith in them for once.

"Now, with that in mind," he said as he stood in front of her and handed her the ball. "I want you to try again."

For the next half hour Hiccup helped Astrid work on her form and even helped her get into the habit of passing the ball to him as if he was an open team member on the court. By the end, she still needed help with passing and a few things with her form, but overall, she made progress.

"Good wor–OW!" he yelped as he felt a small, but strong fist collide with his shoulder. "WHY would you DO that?!"

"That's for being a sarcastic asshole all the time," she said before she leaned over and gave him a quick hug. "That's for...offering to help me with basketball."

Before he could respond, Astrid was already walking out the gym and towards the locker rooms again to change for volleyball. Hiccup stared long after she had gone back out and smiled a bit. He may have snapped at her for rubbing his knee earlier, but the quick hug gave him a sense of comfort. The type that she had been trying to give him earlier and failed to do so.

When she came back into the gym, clad in her volleyball uniform, she smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat. He wondered if it was because she smiled at him or because she was just there, standing in all her beauty.

Or it could have been because he was dying or something, but he figured that it was the first two options.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay you guys. I was trying to work out the chapters to come after this one, while at the same time, trying to figure out how to write this one out. So anyways, did any of you catch the **Teen Wolf** reference? I figured that saying fit perfectly with Astrid and Hiccup's bipolar... _friendship_? I'm not really sure what to call these two, maybe acquaintances until they move into the friend zone.

So, it looks like the movie is coming to life with the help of Hiccstrid, and you all got a glimpse of our favorite villain, Dagur. I did drop some hints about Hiccup in this chapter, hopefully some of you caught them and if not, just keep reading since it'll all come into play soon.

Just so you all know, I usually base Hiccup's facial expressions from the ones he has in RTTE, so if you want to know or get an idea of what they look like, watch the show. (; On another note, a lot of you guys came up with good theories on the question I gave last chapter. I'm not going to say if you guys got it wrong or right, because it could give it away, or it could not give it away. That question will soon be answered in a few more chapters.

Again, I want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed, favorited, and even viewed this story. It means a lot given that my chapters are really short and not as well-written as I want them to be. But thank you guys.

Now for your guys' next question:

 **Mentioned in the second part of the chapter, what do you think Hiccup is hiding from Astrid and why?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6  
**

"She gets on my nerves a lot," the green-eyed boy said as he plopped down on his couch with a sigh. "Okay, she can be charming at times...well, _all_ the time, but she mostly gets on my nerves. One minute we'll be arguing over the stupidest things and then the next we're acting like friends even though we're not. I mean, I think we're not friends, because let's face it, a girl like her would never be friends with a guy like me. She's popular, I'm not. Then again, she _does_ talk to me even when she doesn't have to."

He sat up with a thoughtful look on his face. "Maybe she wants to be my friend but I'm being too hostile? Am I even hostile? I think I'm pretty nice if the other person's being nice, but I'm also a sarcastic asshole and Astrid doesn't mind reminding that every day. Okay, now that I think about it, I kind of want to be friends with her, like _really_ be friends with her and not like in the movies where the guy uses the girl for something." He paused and frowned. "But she can be a bitch at times and I kind of don't like her for it. You should see the way she is at school, she's always rude to people and yelling at them for no reason and it's pretty pathetic. Annnddd then again, there's something about her that I _do_ like, I just can't figure what it is." He looked at the individual seated next to him. "Is _any_ of this making sense?"

 _Squeak_.

"You're right, Sharpshot. I'm just ranting now," he mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. Sharpshot only stared at him until he yawned and began to groom himself.

Hiccup sighed and let the small rat hop onto his shoulder before he stood up and made his way over to the kitchen. It had almost been a week since he began training Astrid in basketball and tomorrow was the big day–she was coming over to his house after volleyball practice. The mere thought of it had made him nervous mostly because no one had ever been in his apartment besides his father, Gobber, and Heather.

He had only known Heather since she worked at the animal hospital and was usually the one to give Toothless his vaccines and do monthly check-ups on him. Hiccup had been surprised when she said she attended Berserker High School and played volleyball. She reminded him of Astrid since both girls were competitive, athletic, and captain of their volleyball teams. She was nice and intelligent, and if he had to admit, she was insanely gorgeous. They could have been friends, but like Astrid, she was popular at her school and it had been a mutual agreement that they were just acquaintances. Although Hiccup knew he was in need of a friend, he had his one and only reason to not be Heather's.

She was Dagur's sister.

Even though she was nice to him and all, it made him uneasy that they were related. He wasn't the type to hate people, but he hated Dagur more than anything. After everything the sociopath of a boy put him through? He had had every reason to.

Hiccup had a great memory, so if one thought he didn't remember something, they were wrong. But what happened with Dagur was the one thing he never wanted to remember, yet it seemed to always come back into his mind and remind him of it. Yesterday, he had actually _wanted_ to tell Astrid about what had happened between him and the deranged Berserker student, but he stopped himself when she had started rubbing his knee.

Of course he had taken it all wrong, and of course he would lie to her and tell her it was a personal space issue. It had always been his excuse when it came to his father, though the only person who truly knew was Gobber. He had been the first and only person to know about what happened, and Hiccup had made the man promise to never say a word about it. Gobber protested about it first, but seeing the pained and frightened look in the boy's eyes made him give in. He knew Hiccup had been just coming to accept the idea that he would always be different because of his foot, that he would have to deal with it because nothing could top the pain of losing his foot, and Hiccup had known that as well.

But they had both been wrong.

Hiccup frowned when he realized he had let his mind wander off too far and focused on preparing Toothless's food. He chuckled softly when he saw Sharpshot reach over and grasp a small piece of meat in his little hands and ate it. Hiccup took notice of the large scar reaching from Sharpshot's shoulder, across his back, and towards his hind leg. It was long healed by now, but it was still visible even through the fur that grew over it. Without realizing it, he gently traced the scar with his pointer finger, causing Sharpshot to squeak a little and look up at him.

Although he was a rodent, Sharpshot wasn't stupid, so when he saw tears brimming in Hiccup's eyes, he climbed up his arm to his shoulder. He steadied himself by placing his hands on Hiccup's jaw and licked his cheek. Hiccup sniffled and wiped his eyes before he turned to look at the rat on his shoulder.

"Sorry, I just..." he trailed off as he gently plucked the hooded rat from his shoulder and held him close to his chest. "I'm sorry for what happened. It was my fault that you got hurt."

Sharpshot nipped at his finger as if arguing with him, causing Hiccup to hiss. "Ow! Okay, maybe you don't think it was, but I know it is. You can't change my mind about that."

The rat only wriggled out of his grasp and bounded off somewhere in the living room. Right as he left, Toothless came trotting into the room having woken up from his nap and jumped onto Hiccup. The boy nearly lost his footing if it weren't for the counter behind him to stop him. Toothless placed his massive paws onto Hiccup's shoulders and licked his face all over, wagging his tail.

"Jesus bud, you're going to kill me one of these days," Hiccup said as he rubbed his best friend's head. Toothless only barked in response causing Hiccup to yelp in surprise. "Toothless!" He rolled his eyes and groaned when he saw the hybrid pull back his lips into what seemed like a smile, tongue lolling out to the side. "You just love teasing me, don't you bud?"

Toothless licked his face again and turned his head toward his food that was still being prepared. Hiccup chuckled and moved the dog off of him so that he could finish preparing his food. He mixed up the meat and kibble and placed it on the floor before going over to fill Toothless's water bowl and setting it down next to the other bowl. As Toothless began to eat, Hiccup heard his phone vibrating on the table in the living room and walked over to grab it. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Gobber calling him.

"Hello?"

" _Hiccup! Where are you, lad?!_ " he heard Gobber yell over the phone.

He frowned in confusion. "What–"

" _You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago! That guy from last time is coming in an hour and yer still not done with fixing up his car!_ "

Hiccup cursed under his breath as he slipped on his shoes and threw on his leather jacket. "Sorry! I'll be there–"

" _Get yer ass over here, now!_ " Gobber yelled before hanging up. Hiccup sighed before jogging over to the kitchen where he found Toothless and Sharpshot sharing Toothless's water bowl. He clasped his hands together and both animals turned their heads to look at him. "Okay, I'll be back because I have work." He pointed a finger at both of them. " _Behave_. I'll be back in an hour or so."

With that, Hiccup left the living room and went out the door. He accidentally slammed it shut, startling Sharpshot and causing him to fall into Toothless's water bowl. The dog eyed the little rat paddling around in his bowl before he gently plucked him out and set him down on the nearest counter. He watched curiously as Sharpshot began to groom himself, and tilted his head from side-to-side as he watched him clean his tail.

Rats were strange things.

* * *

Hiccup pulled into Gobber's mechanic shop and hopped out of his car and ran inside. He saw Gobber working on a different car than the one he was working on before he took off his jacket and black shirt, and putting on the apron over his tank top.

Gobber looked up and glared at the boy. "It's about time you showed up!"

"Sorry, got held up," Hiccup said and picked up the tools he needed and went over to the black Escalade in the back. He scanned his drawings of the car and looked at what he needed left to work on before the car was good to go.

He grabbed a pencil in his left hand and made some final notes before he went to go work on the car. He managed to fix up the Escalade in thirty minutes, smiling to himself with his accomplishment. He looked over at Gobber who had been watching him and the older man shook his head in disbelief at how quickly his employer worked. Hiccup smirked before he put away his tools and sat down at his desk that looked much like the one he had at his apartment. He looked up at the pinned up designs on the bulletin board, and then at the photos that were pinned around in random spots. He would have been taking an AP art class as a Junior if he took art his previous years, but he had been doing art as an elective since middle school, so when he saw that film making was one, he took an interest in it.

And frankly, it was the best decision he ever made.

"Hiccup!"

The said boy looked up to see Gobber looking at him. "Yeah?"

The older man pushed up his welding mask and glared at him. "I've been calling yer name since you sat down! Will you go help our customer at the desk?"

Hiccup widened his eyes and nodded. "Uh...yeah! Sorry, I'm going, I'm going." He quickly got up and jogged over to the door, ducking when Gobber swung at him with his prosthetic. Closing the back door behind him, he walked into the shop and went over to the front desk.

He addressed the person on the other side of the desk without looking up. "Hi, how can I help you? Anything you need to fix up, pick up, or just look around?"

"Pick up actually, nice apron by the way," a familiar voice said back, causing Hiccup to look up.

Green eyes met blue eyes and he found himself smiling a bit as he rolled his eyes. "Nice to see you too, Milady."

Astrid smirked and shook her head. "I hate it when you call me that, you know." Hiccup only smiled even more. "All the more reason to call you it."

The blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes this time before she set down a paper on the table with a license plate number on it. "Anyways, I'm here for a pick up."

Hiccup looked down at the paper and nodded. "Yeah, it's just in the back. I didn't know you could drive–" Astrid held up a set of car keys and shrugged. "I have my driver's license but it's my mom's car."

"Of course," he said with a small smile before he gestured towards the back door. "Come on, it's in here."

Astrid pushed the small swinging door and followed Hiccup into the back of the shop. The first thing she noticed were a bunch of cars around the place and then Gobber, who was fixing up the engine of a car in the back corner. Hiccup led her over to his work space and gestured to the black Navigator next to the one he had been working on earlier.

Astrid took a look at it and smiled when she saw that it looked better than before. "You did a really good job."

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "It was nothing really, it took just a few tweaks and I decided to clean it up a bit." Astrid turned to look at him with a worried look. "Did that cost extra? Because my mom only gave me the money for the repair–" Hiccup put his hands up and smiled as he shook his head. "No extra cost, it's on me."

Astrid smiled at him as she brushed her bangs out of her face. "Thanks, Hiccup."

"No problem," he said before turning back to his work space and moved the papers and pencils aside. Astrid took notice of the drawings hung up on the wall and raised her eyebrows. "Did you draw those?"

"Uh, yeah," he said and she smiled. "Wow, you're really good at drawing. Why didn't you take art as an elective?" Hiccup shrugged and leaned back against the table. "I've been taking art since middle school. So instead of taking what should have been AP art by now, I decided to make a change and take film making instead."

Astrid nodded in understanding. "Well, that makes sense. I still think you should consider taking an art class the second semester or at least Senior year."

He grinned. "I'll take it if you take it." She shook her head and held up her hands. "Oh no, no, no. I don't draw." He raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. I _can't_ draw, for shit actually."

Hiccup laughed. "It's not as hard as you think it is. You just have to have a creative mind and a steady hand."

"So basically I'm never going to draw for my life," she joked with a smile.

"Well, I can always teach you," he offered as he wiped some dust off his tank top. Astrid smirked. "You've been teaching me a lot of things lately." Hiccup gave her a lopsided grin. "I know, and speaking of teaching, are you coming over tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Yeah, anything I need to know before I step into the Haddock lair?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "Just know that Toothless and Sharpshot are pretty different, one who happens to be huge and the other happens to be small." She gave him a questioning look and he shrugged. "You'll see what I mean."

"Alright, alright," she said and nodded towards the other car. "Whose car is that?"

Hiccup looked over at the black Escalade and shrugged. "Beats me, I just know it's some rich guy's car."

"Not as rich as your dad, I'm guessing." He sent her an annoyed look, to which she smiled at. "Kidding. Well, I don't think anyone in Berk can be as rich as your dad."

"For the first time, that's actually pretty true," he said with a grin and she laughed. "So, this guy isn't as rich as your dad, but he's rich?" Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, Gobber's met him and said he's a pretty nice guy."

Astrid nodded as she glanced back at Gobber. "So, I take it you and Gobber are pretty close?"

"Yeah, him and my dad are really close friends, but Gobber's always been more of a father to me, in all honesty," he said, admitting the last part softly.

"How so?" she asked, feeling the mood of the conversation changing.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, Gobber just knows a lot about me, mostly because he's cared enough to try. My dad on the other hand..." he stopped, realizing that he was already opening up to Astrid too much, and cleared his throat. "...he's a different story."

Noticing that he was trying to drop the conversation, Astrid nodded. "So, are you coming to my volleyball game on Friday at six?"

He smirked. "How could I miss it?" She glared at the sarcasm in his voice and pointed a finger at him. "You better be there, Haddock." Hiccup threw his hands up and smiled. "Okay, okay. I'll be there," he said and his voice deepened a bit at his next words as he leaned his face towards hers. "But only for you, Milady."

Astrid suddenly felt her heart skip a beat at his voice and his words, her stomach fluttering madly. Before the blush rose to her cheeks, she shook everything off before she rolled her eyes at him as she pushed him away from her. "If you're trying to seduce me, it's not working."

Hiccup laughed loudly and waved his hand at her. "How did that get into this conversation?!"

Soon, it was her turn to laugh. "I don't know! Your voice got all deep and you leaned in really close!"

"Hey! I saw it in a movie before!" he defended, but they both ended up laughing even more.

After they calmed down a bit, Hiccup whipped out his iPhone and showed her his calendar. "See? I was already going to go if you told me or not." Astrid moved to stand beside him and leaned over a bit to see the screen. She smiled when she saw " _Astrid's Home VB Game_ " written in for Friday at six.

"Why'd you label it as my game?" she asked quietly, not realizing that she was now leaning against his shoulder.

Hiccup gave a small shrug. "Because then it wouldn't mean anything and I wouldn't have a reason to go."

Astrid looked up at him as he looked down at her and she felt her heart rate quicken. They said nothing for a few seconds as they looked at each other, and for some reason, Astrid found herself holding back the urge to close the gap between them. Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup was holding back a similar urge that he had no explanation to. Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat and they looked up to see Gobber looking at them with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Having fun there, are ya?"

"Gobber!" Hiccup exclaimed, only to have his boss laugh and turn away with a wink.

Hiccup looked back at Astrid who had moved a few inches away from him and sighed. "Sorry about that. But anyways, I'll be at your game."

She smiled at him. "Good, I better get a present when I win." Hiccup smirked. " _When_ you win? Cocky, much?" She rolled her eyes. "Asshole, much?"

"Touché," he said with a grin before before putting his phone away. "So, I'm guessing you have to go now?"

Astrid nodded. "Yeah, I have to go pick up my mom from work and basically give her back her car. I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Obviously," he said in a ' _duh_ ' tone.

She chuckled before turning away. "Bye Hiccup."

"Bye Milady," he said with a smile as he watched her hop into the Navigator, and drive out, waving to him.

Gobber, who had still been watching them, smiled knowingly to himself as Hiccup went back to work. He knew what was bound to happen between those two, and whether they realized it or not, it was going to happen sooner or later.

* * *

A/N: So, firstly, I apologize for not updating in literally a whole month. I just got back to school, and everything's been centered around homework and projects, so I haven't had the time to really write this chapter up. Secondly, it'll take a little longer for me to write and post chapters regularly, though **I do plan on posting chapters on the weekends every week.** So, with that being said, expect another update this weekend.

Anyways, I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little short or something along those lines, it was more of a filler. So, Hiccup opened up a bit to Astrid without really realizing it, so that's a good place to start, right? Not to mention that little Hiccstrid moment thrown in there. (; Next chapter Astrid's taking a visit to Casa De Haddock and meeting Toothless and Sharpshot. But her reaction won't be what you expect...stay tuned.

For the question I gave to you guys last chapter, the answer to your theories was answered in the beginning of this chapter. But hold onto those theories for later chapters, they may or may not come into play at some point. (;

Also, an announcement I'd like to make: I am currently working on a new story that will be titled **Vestige** and it will be a Hiccstrid story. Hopefully, I'll be uploading it around the same time as chapter 7, so keep a look out for it!

Now for this chapter's question:

 **How do you think Astrid will react to Toothless and Sharpshot, and most importantly, to Hiccup living alone?**


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